The collision between a Blackhawk Helicopter and an American Airlines (flown by PSA Airlines) Regional Jet has brought all the anti-Trumpers out of the woodwork.
Those with severe Trump Derangement Syndrome are already blaming Trump for the accident - without any evidence. In some case ridiculously claiming it is due to chaos caused by Trump or his announcement ending DEI policies in government. This from many who should know better and are typically rational - except when it comes to Trump.
The NTSB will fully investigate and we will get answers in time.
The DC area airspace is very congested and busy. In fact a similar collision was narrowly averted the day before between a helicopter and a passenger jet.
So far, it appears to be likely the Blackhawk pilot was both flying above the appropriate corridor for helicopter traffic and the pilot identified the wrong aircraft. The pilot apparently saw the departing one when the Tower Controller asked the pilot if the pilot had the traffic visually rather than the landing jet that was involved in the crash. Now, the pilot responded they did have visual o the aircraft, which makes traffic separation primarily the pilot's responsibility at that point. Unfortunately, at night it appears the pilot identified the wrong aircraft and apparently did not have a visual on the PSA jet.
The Tower controller meanwhile did not pick up on the fact that the Blackhawk was 200 feet above the 200 foot ceiling for helicopters in the area that put it in the flight path of the landing jet, nor did the helicopter pilot.
So were DEI policies to blame? At this point it is quite simply too early to tell if those policies were a factor.
Indeed it is unknown if the controller or Blackhawk pilot were DEI-hires. If they were there's going to be plenty of blame to go around. The Tower controller did not pick up on the fact that the Blackhawk was reportedly 200 feet outside of the appropriate flight path and in the flight path of the jet, and the helicopter pilot also seems to have made a series of mistakes leading to the incident.
Now, the Tower at Reagan is understaffed and apparently one controller was doing two jobs at the time of the incident which can lead to important things being overlooked and open the opportunity for accidents. Not hiring qualified white applicants to continue to try and find non-white DEI-scoring applicants may be a partial factor in the shortage of controllers.
In short, the full cause of the incident is not fully known and will not definitively be known until the NTSB completes its investigation. So no it cannot be definitively said what the cause was or if DEI was a factor in the crash but human factors certainly are the primary factor in this incident and DEI hiring doesn't enhance safety in aviation.
DEI has been reducing safety in aviation in a quest to hire a diverse workforce, reducing merit and aptitude as the key factor in hiring and repalcing it with diversity.
Did Biden and Obama adopt hiring polices based on DEI/Affirmative Action rather than merit and ability? Yes, yes they did.
Did their administrations act in a way to hire unqualified controllers, including feeding Black applicants answers to the controller entrance exam to make sure they can pass the test and get hired? Yes, yes they did.
Did the FAA even refuse to hire qualified applicants because they were white, while at the same time musing in presentations as to how much of a change in job performance is acceptable in performing diversity goals? Yes, yes they did.
In case you're wondering the answer to that question is that no change in job performance is acceptable - you either can do the job competently or you cannot regardless of your race or background. There are plenty of Black and female controllers that are more than fully capable and stand on their own merits and ability as controllers. That they were accepting lower performance in their quest to hire a DEI-workforce and get their ratios up is at the very least shameful and at worst horrific in reducing safety in a quest for DEI-complance.
Time spent in DEI-sensitivity training could certainly be better spent on piloting or aircraft controlling training.
So no, the collision is not President Trump's fault, and we don't know yet if or how much DEI hiring and focus was a factor in the incident.
4 comments:
If there is a shortage of Air Traffic Controllers, those positions need to be filled. In no way should race, gender, or sexuality factor into those qualifications. If any qualified applicants were turned down because of diversity goals, then DEI does contribute to the staffing shortage.
Why was there only one ATC controlling both commercial aviation and helicopter traffic when there is usually two and there likely should be more.
200' vertical separation? YGBSM...that's within the tolerance for most pressure altitude altimeters (or was back in my day). And...At Night? and in the middle of DC? Sounds like a bunch of stupid in the planning of getting into and out of the DC airspace. Which means it takes very f'in little of a mistake to cause a catastrophe. It'll be blamed on the pilots and maybe the controllers, but it should be brought against the airspace planners. Their idiocy caused the death, the aircrews were just the folks flying the planes.
My $.02!
juvat
I have flown into Washington several times and the approach is like herding cats. In the daytime. At night, even if there is less traffic, ATC is what the pilots are generally trusting for separation. It looks like there was an understaffed shift and some airmanship issues. I feel betrayed by the government and so sad for our military.
There is literally a class action lawsuit about that......
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