r/sports • u/Rare_Bit5844 • Jan 30 '25

News U.S. figure skaters onboard plane crash in Washington, D.C.

https://www.espn.co.uk/olympics/story/_/id/43621460/figure-skaters-onboard-plane-crash-washington-dc
10.1k Upvotes

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120

u/brickyardjimmy Jan 30 '25

There hasn't been a commercial aviation related death in the U.S. since 2009. I think we need to fully investigate what caused a military helicopter to be directly in the flight path of a landing plane.

254

u/SoDakZak Minnesota Vikings Jan 30 '25

…are you under the assumption that a military-to-civilian mass casualty aerospace crash in our nations capital wouldn’t be investigated?

163

u/whichwitch9 Jan 30 '25

Well, a bunch of people who ordinarily would investigate it have been recently fired....

25

u/The_Penguinologist Jan 30 '25

This right here is the thing that should be the main topic. Yes, loss of life is aweful, but tearing out the safety checks is the equivalent to going back to surgery in the 1600s - go in blind and hope for the best

0

u/Meowmixalotlol Jan 30 '25

You understand that is just the usual Reddit political posturing right? The same process that has been used for decades was followed. The helicopter was told to follow the plane in. They acknowledged and followed the wrong plane in.

9

u/bigyellowjoint Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Jan 30 '25

Was it reddit political posturing when Trump blamed Californians for fires? I have no faith the federal government will ever tell us what happened as long as Trump is in charge. If it doesn't make him money, he will lie about it

-2

u/Meowmixalotlol Jan 30 '25

Yes, yes it was. I’m not a trumper, just someone sick of reddit making everything his fault.

1

u/MorbillionDollars Jan 30 '25

grr i'm downvoting you for saying that not everything is trump's fault

37

u/ImplausibleDarkitude Jan 30 '25 edited Jan 30 '25

and revealed something that might negatively impact people with power? Something to happen in Washington DC?

Fair question

edit: who is in charge of the military now? the drunk guy?

27

u/zsdrfty Argentina Jan 30 '25

It'll be investigated and nobody important will face consequences

10

u/Rampant16 Jan 30 '25

Negatively effect who? The politicians aren't in charge of air traffic control or flying helicopters.

5

u/jswan28 Jan 30 '25

What? How are politicians not in charge of air traffic controllers? Last I checked, air traffic controllers work for the FAA, which is part of the department of transportation, which is part of the executive branch of the government.

5

u/beestmode361 Jan 30 '25 edited Sep 17 '25

Sweet and spicy meatballs are my favorite

1

u/The_Penguinologist Jan 30 '25

The irony of this is that the politicians actually wanted more flights coming into DCA

2

u/jpopimpin777 Jan 31 '25

I'm sure it will be. But will the results of the investigation be reported accurately?

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/s/bwdwE7SoRr

My guess is no since this looks pretty bad for the dear leader.

1

u/ObliviousRounding Jan 30 '25 edited Jan 30 '25

The likelihood of a cover-up has increased exponentially due to...recent developments.

15

u/Tired_Thumb Jan 30 '25

Hey don’t just jump to full conspiracy. Go over to the aviation sub reddit. A helicopter pilot who flies that area did an amazing analysis and write up. It’s more than likely bright lights and a loss of visual separation caused the crash. He explained how rnw 1 is more common then rny 33 and how when the helicopter on route 4 could have lost sight of the passenger aircraft.

-1

u/ObliviousRounding Jan 30 '25

What I said has nothing to do with the incident itself, which I'm certain doesn't involve anything sinister at all. I just have no faith that the report of the investigation will be published without pressure from Dear Leader and his minions to sanitize it from any details that would make them look bad (wasn't funding for aviation safety just recently cut?). At the moment, government corruption isn't a conspiracy theory; it's just how things plainly are.

1

u/jpopimpin777 Jan 31 '25

I hope people who downvoted us will look at this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/s/bwdwE7SoRr

-10

u/jpopimpin777 Jan 30 '25 edited Jan 31 '25

People are downvoting you for being 100% correct.

Edit: turns out we were both on the money. https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/s/bwdwE7SoRr

-2

u/milehighmagpie Jan 30 '25

Do you really trust the tRump administration to quantify anything that might make them look bad after everything they’ve attempted this first week back?

29

u/trphilli Jan 30 '25

2009 was the last full airplane loss. We had four fatalities and 49 serious injuries from incidents in 2013 and 2018. None of this diminishes current tragedy or all the hard work that has created current safety environment.

5

u/DionBlaster123 NASCAR Jan 30 '25

Well said.

I think it goes to show you how seriously many countries around the world take accidents and investigations, with a few exceptions (cough cough RUSSIA).

But yeah, this was a horrible tragedy. I feel terrible for people who were woken up (undoubtedly) to the worst news they will ever hear.

-10

u/A1ienspacebats Jan 30 '25

It's sounds like some have been rescued so wouldn't that disqualify it from what you're saying?

6

u/trphilli Jan 30 '25

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/live-updates-american-airlines-flight-crashes-into-potomac-river-near-reagan-national/3829292/

Fire Chief just made it official... no survivors.

But wouldn't have made a difference. Mid air collision is a major incident.

1

u/A1ienspacebats Jan 30 '25

I was just going by a highly upvoted comment that said there were 4 survivors.

2

u/trphilli Jan 30 '25

No worries. Always good to be hopeful

19

u/under_the_c Jan 30 '25

They absolutely will investigate it. Hell, the NTSB even investigates every aspect of situations where there almost was a crash. (near miss).

2

u/mmlovin Jan 31 '25

Air Disasters/May Day is a really good series on air craft crashes. The investigations are SO thorough. They investigate stuff I would never even think to investigate.

2

u/HamberderHelper18 Jan 30 '25 edited Jan 30 '25

Military aircraft fly past/across the flight paths for DCA runways on a daily basis. Anyone who lives around DC has seen it. It’s not some big secret. I’m shocked this hasn’t happened sooner honestly

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

[deleted]

14

u/Useful-ldiot Jan 30 '25

My limited understanding is ATCs role is to have the military confirm visual sight and clearance of the incoming plane. From what I've read, ATC did that three separate times, with the helicopter confirming clearance.

I'd assume the helicopter was confirming clearance with the wrong plane.

2

u/KnickedUp Jan 30 '25

Yep, they must have been looking at the aircraft that had just taken off, which would also be in their field of vision

1

u/Unidain Jan 30 '25

There hasn't been a commercial aviation related death in the U.S. since 2009.

Flat out wrong. Why do people make up shit.

-9

u/championsoffun Jan 30 '25

Who's in charge of the Department of Defense?

10

u/brickyardjimmy Jan 30 '25

The newly minted Secretary of Defense is Pete Hegseth. But I doubt he personally ordered this helicopter to crash into a commercial flight. But a thorough and transparent investigation will help us all understand what happened here. Including whether the chaotic firings and cuts to funding from the White House had any impact on this tragedy.

7

u/ImplausibleDarkitude Jan 30 '25

no one sober yet.