Summary
The FAA is facing a leadership vacuum amid a major aviation disaster after former administrator Michael Whitaker resigned on January 20th, following clashes with Elon Musk.
Musk, angered by FAA fines against SpaceX, publicly called for Whitaker’s resignation.
The crisis intensified after an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet in Washington, D.C., killing all on board.
Trump has appointed Chris Rocheleau as acting FAA administrator, with Musk reportedly influencing government staffing decisions.
The FAA also struggles with underfunding and air traffic control staffing shortages.
In 2023, a panel of experts released a report that found that the increasing reliance of overtime to staff air traffic control facilities was putting air safety at risk. The agency has fielded hundreds of complaints from air traffic workers describing dangerous conditions from staff shortages to dilapidated buildings.
Completely off topic but made me think of the conditions 911 dispatchers have to work under. Both are extremely critical jobs where mistakes can really cost lives and not in the “I thought a bag of skittles was a gun” mistake
Hi, I’m the United States, and this is Jackass.
Proceeds to fly planes into crowds.
Just IMAGINE if this happened under a Biden or Obama administration.
Republicans would be losing their collective shit. They’d probably have some DEFCON level on the fox news ticker for a year straight.
Honest question: Where the heck are the left talking heads? The ones I follow are much too busy writing clickbait titles, covering the story and shaking their heads a bit.
Corporate media is controlled by the fascists now.
There’s actually no point. Like literally. We’re 10 days into this shit show. By the time of the midterms try to imagine how much sheer bullshit, how many should-be-scandals will have come and gone. Nobody will even remember this in 2 years time.
They are out there. I think none of them are as argumentative as the chuds though. And liberals don’t fall in love like the right does, at least not that I have seen, which I think contributes.
Nah don’t worry Republicans will investigate this just as hard as Benghazi, for 10 years. /s
Why are all these fucking cowards resigning?Stand up to these fucking bullies you pussies. Get fired then turn around and sue them. Its a badge of honor to be fired by these assholes.
When we quit, or act like it’s all rigged and hopeless… We do the fascists’ jobs for them.
the nazi musk, after being fined, pushed out the administrator of the agency that fined him.
well done, trump voters 👍
The whole point of this administration is revenge and demonstrating the power of the hated. The goal is to enshrine a permanent oligarchy and rich ruling class that no longer has to pander to the masses because they’re tired of doing it.
Tearing apart the government is the goal. The Oligarchy is icing on the cake.
Or it might be the other way around. Idk it’s the same either way.
im tired, boss.
Well done non voters
Ftfy
Single issue voters too. Narrow minded.
YoU sOunD lIkE bLuE mAgA
and they’re perfectly fine with it, because they’re told to be
Note for 2025: don’t fly in the US
If you can help it, probably don’t be in the US at all. And, if you’re feeling generous, maybe take a few of us with you.
Come on up if you can land any job at all. Doo eet, as if you can qualify it means you’ve got a job and a clue, and that will help our voting if we can render you into a full Canuck before election time.
See that’s where I think you are wrong, don’t fly in the U.S. from 2025 to at least 2029 depending.
Just like the old adage don’t fly in or near Russia least one would end up in a similar situation to flight 17.
One ATC working two positions.
Cant imagine why this happened.
Very common, I doubt it’s contributing. Positions are made to combine up when it’s less busy and to split off when it’s more busy. You only rarely see all positions completely split off at most facilities.
BIG question is why the military helicopter, with onboard radar and proximity alerts that had to be going off in the cockpit, continue to fly into a commercial aircraft.
Being common doesn’t make it okay. ATC has been understaffed since Reagan killed the union.
Pilots were flying under NVG (limited field of view) and appear to have been watching the wrong plane when they said they had the traffic in sight. Were probably flying too low for TCAS, if a black hawk even has it.
The flight aware or whatever and atc audio is already out there and such for YouTubers and whatever. Your take sounds like mine as well; the helicopter pilots were cautioned by ATC, confirmed visual on the plane, hit the plane. I think it’s at least likely that they were observing that other plane seen on radar and the crash footage.
Helicopter had a 200ft. ceiling and broke it. Plane
was assumed on ILS butappears was VFR and got a runway change. It seems to have been below its intended 500ft during the maneuver with the crash at 400ft.This is probably better than my paraphrasing and probably screwing shit up:
And yeah, TCAS is 1000 ft. and above I think for resolution advisories.
More edit: also appears night vision was in use so yeah. I look forward to hearing further from Elon and Don how this was DEI and how they spin the military part of the blame.
I’d be very surprised if a Blackhawk doesn’t have much better radar than TCAS
When you’re flying in close proximity like that at a low altitude, I’d assume they’re all VFR and not relying on radar.
TCAS is good because it’s an instantaneous “YOU WILL HIT THIS. GO UP NOW”. There’s no having to look at it and think about what to do, that’s why its so successful. Can’t really compare radar to that.
… But at the same time may not operate a transponder, as a war vehicle.
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Yes, based on what I’ve read the communication with the tower was all timely and accurate, it sounds like the pilot of the helicopter made an error
Welcome to the world leader of shit-hole countries.
What floor were they on when he was pushed out?
