I was based at College Park for a few years. You get used to scanning for mil helicopters before departing since they fly at nearly pattern altitude into ADW.
Being a VIP has nothing to do with the accident. ATC wasn’t giving them priority.
Maybe they should reconsider whether this route is a good idea in the first place? Particular for when aircraft are approaching over the Potomac.
DC has a bunch of helicopter routes and sectors. In a sector, you are free to fly anywhere in the sector. On a route, they clear you for the route and you don't talk to them until you get near the end and have to tell them what you want to do next.
They have to be above the horizon, or they are part of the landscape.
Where in the world is a 300' error in altimeter reading allowed? Especially at the low end of the scale?
Largely to avoid overflight of security sensitive areas in DC.
When approaching from the South?
What if the training is for familiarization with the local airspace?
. RIP to all lost…
I think there’s a good chance they had iPad with some sort of ADS-B in. I know Huntsville approved IPads and from what I’ve heard from guys still in, it’s common to bring a Status.
Recently, I had some mil traffic fly at/over me with less separation than I cared for. I saw them visually and on ADS-B. There's always 121.5.
Vertical separation was not being used on the accident flights. They were applying visual separation.
Mode-C reporting. Under 300' difference from pilot altimeter and mode-C is acceptable in non-RVSM airspace.
Exactly. Part of the landscape of thousands upon thousands of other lights on the ground. Flying at night is a different animal - in fact, it's completely different. Like lots of the more complicated things in aviation (especially flying in real IMC), do it often. If not, your first mistake could be your last.
One report I saw said the chopper was on an "annual proficiency flight".
Depth perception has almost nothing to do with visual separation. Probably a little oversimplified, but If the aircraft is moving in your windshield, you’ll miss. If the aircraft is stationary in your windshield, you’ll hit.
Well, do you think, after seeing the traffic cam footage of the impact, that it occurred at or below 200' AGL?
And it worked. So, let's move on to the next topic for discussion.
Just heard from a Mike guy. No TCAS or ADS-B in a Mike model.
So, the Army helicopter crew killed 67 people. That part is clear. The only questions remaining is to what extent other factors contributed, and how such incidents can be avoided in the future
I have no way of knowing if this is in fact what happened. But, sady, now we all know "what then".
That could very well explain why the pilot's altitude was off - I read here that he could have been off by 150 feet. Flying in that airspace takes precision. Yes, the pilot might be in training, but someone needs to know exactly what the altimeter is saying - particularly the check pilot. And that altimeter better be set correctly. I always cross check on the ground, so the altimeter reads the mean sea level altitude on the charts. Or close to it because one side of the airfield could be about 50 feet different. I'll come out and say it, if those helicopter pilots were indeed off by 150 to 200 feet, in such sensitive airspace, that's not only brain dead - it's borderline criminal.
Not sure if you're saying that it has no ADS-B at all or that it doesn't have ADSB-IN but does have ADSB-OUT.
Because there were several hits on the radar tapes of 200. That and the fact as stated above, mode C is valid within 300 ft of reported. Could easily be showing up as 300 ft but the pilots altimeter showing 200 or even less.
