DEMOCRATS: THEY CAN'T RUN AN HONEST CITY OR STATE, WHAT MAKES THEM ABLE TO RUN A DISASTER RELIEF CHARITY?
The Oxymoronic Age of Democrats: Where Talk Trumps Action, and Destruction is the Path to Salvation

Reagan National Airport Accident

Accident-2

I hate to say it, but this aircraft-involved disaster is not that dissimilar to that of an automobile crash, albeit in terms of massive loss of life, significant property damage, and enormous financial consequences. A cascading series of events led to an adverse confluence outcome. As they say, “shit happens.”

Radar

Radar: Collision Avoidance Alert

Why blame must be assigned.

The primary reason is to restore the public’s confidence in civil aviation and the use of aircraft to travel safely. The secondary one involves resolving the legal and financial consequences following the accident.

Politicians will be politicians.

As in all disasters, politicians view this disaster as an exploitable event to grab media facetime, primarily to reaffirm their “leadership roles” in dealing with disaster and secondarily as an opportunity to request additional legislative powers and funding.

As bearers of pertinent information, they are worthless as they engage in the media dance in which every tangential “leader” is offered a turn at the microphones in front of the multitude of cameras, if for nothing other than providing their condolences to the bereaved and promising some form of unspecified action.

The media must fill airtime.

The parade of talking heads and explainer videos is nearly constant after a disaster. Most are based on speculation and endlessly repeating that there was an accident and an ongoing rescue/recovery by brave first responders doing their sworn duties. I am sickened by this dance of mostly ignorant fools exploiting a tragedy for personal or professional gain.

The parties involved.

  • The system provides the overall framework, including systems, procedures, and conditions under which this tragedy occurred.
  • The pilots of a military “Blackhawk” helicopter.
  • The pilots of a commercial, regional sub-carrier airline.
  • The air traffic controllers managing operations in a congested airspace.

What happened?

To be determined by the NTSB (National Transportation and Safety Board) after a lengthy and thorough investigation.

Why blame cannot be accurately assigned at this time?

There are many open questions, ranging from why the CAS (Collision Avoidance System) appears to have failed to the additional cockpit workload of changing a last-minute destination runway in the flight management system, which is entered by one pilot and cross-checked by the other pilot, to the controller’s failure to understand the collision alert on their radar and issue direct orders instead of a cautionary message.

Bullshit flows downhill.

Wh-header
President Donald Trump Wants the Highest Standards in Air Traffic Control

President Donald Trump has repeatedly taken action to ensure that only the best are working as air traffic controllers.

It’s necessary to ensure that we have the highest standards with stakes as high as air travel. The New York Times found that in Fiscal Year 2023, “there were 503 air traffic control lapses that the F.A.A. preliminarily categorized as ‘significant.’”

The previous administration did not prioritize raising standards among FAA employees. Instead, Fox News reported that the Biden FAA was “actively recruiting workers who suffer ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative.”

President Trump put an end to that last week when he signed a presidential memorandum ordering “the Secretary of Transportation and FAA Administrator to immediately stop Biden DEI hiring programs and return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring.”

This is not the first time President Trump has taken decisive action to ensure merit-based hiring for air traffic controllers.

During the Obama administration, the FAA changed the hiring process for air traffic controllers. A new test meant that “applicants with a lower aptitude in science got preference over applicants who had scored excellent in science. Applicants who had been unemployed for the previous three years got more points than licensed pilots got. In other words, the FAA actively searched for unqualified air traffic controllers.” The FAA was aware that the test had “nothing to do with finding the best air traffic controllers,” but used it anyway.

Fox Business investigated the FAA hiring practices and “uncovered changes that may put the nation’s flying public at risk.”
In 2018, the Department of Transportation under President Trump’s leadership announced it would put an end to the use of the “biographical questionnaire” introduced by the Obama administration.

As President Trump said Thursday, “For an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest ... and that’s what we’re going to have.”

Bottom line…

Accidents are the potential price we pay for the convenience of air travel.

Grieve the loss of those who have lost their lives, but avoid stepping into the pool of bullshit flowing from politicians and talking heads.

-- Steve


“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw

“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”

“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell

“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar

“Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS

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