Commercial helicopter activity near a military base in South Australia led to a near collision in 2015. The crew of the landing military aircraft saw the chopper and were able to descend rapidly with the chopper passing just 50 feet overhead.
The expansion was opposed by Dem Reps and Senators in Va and Md, but supported by Rep in Midwest who don’t want to drive to Dulles ( 30-60 min). Also supported by American who uses DCA and opposed by United who uses Dulles. It was a dangerous move to say the least.
this line from Tim Kaine back then: "God forbid waking up and looking in a mirror one day and say, 'Wow, I was warned. I was warned and I shouldn't have done this,'" Kaine told reporters last year.
Why is no one questioning the pentagon and why they were conducting night training at one of the nations most crowded civilian airports?
Army training attrition is already obscene. We shouldn’t accept them involving civilians in their dangerous exercises
They train in the area they fly. The helicopter pilot had plenty of flight hours—he wasn’t learning to fly the copter, he was practicing flying in his usual airspace. (Hope that make sense, it’s standard practice.)
Nine months ago, the Democratic Transportation Secretary (Buttigieg) warned that Reagan International was overloaded with flights. He recommended limiting the number of flights and other safety measures.
His request was refused.
From Wikipedia: "Reagan National serves 98 nonstop destinations as of October 2023. "
So the 10 added flights were like a 10% increase of the traffic.
I am much more impressed by the fact that instead of 2 controllers, there was just 1 managing the traffic.
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https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2015/aair/ao-2015-101
Army training attrition is already obscene. We shouldn’t accept them involving civilians in their dangerous exercises
DIA so lots of high ranking folks in executive helicopters.
Incredible waste of taxpayer money because it's basically a 2 mile ferry.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/buttiegieg-expresses-safety-concerns-over-adding-five-new-long-haul-flights-at-reagan-airport/ar-AA1nWCzS
His request was refused.
Not speculation, not “I heard“ or “they say” as Trump is famous for claiming.
So the 10 added flights were like a 10% increase of the traffic.
I am much more impressed by the fact that instead of 2 controllers, there was just 1 managing the traffic.
We must blame Trump's cuts of staff.
https://www.protectregionalairports.com/2024/05/03/audio-transportation-secretary-pete-buttigieg-doubles-down-on-concerns-about-more-flights-at-dca/
https://www.newsweek.com/reagan-airport-more-flights-collision-warning-2023389
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