Comment on Plane carrying 64 collides with helicopter, crashes in Washington
SirSamuel@lemmy.world 4 weeks agoI wonder if this will wind up being similar to the Überlingen midair collision. An overworked ATC worker making a simple mistake with no other fail-safes in place
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 4 weeks ago
I have spent about 45 seconds studying the Uberlingen case, so I don’t know much about it at all. From what I quickly gathered, the ATC cleared both aircraft to the same altitude and an intersecting course, and didn’t realize their mistake. That didn’t happen here.
I did not hear communication from the helicopter, but that’s not unusual: LiveATC recordings often miss traffic from aircraft in certain situations. Based on the controller’s transmissions, I have every reason to believe the controller was in 2-way communication with the helicopter.
The controller asked if the helicopter had the CRJ in sight. The next transmission asked the helicopter to maintain visual separation. This command would only be given if the helicopter had reported the CRJ in sight.
This wasn’t an oversight; the ATC’s statements indicate they were aware of the conflict and were taking steps to remediate it. That doesn’t mean their steps were right; that doesn’t mean their steps were wrong. It only means that the radio transmissions indicate the controller was aware of the situation prior to the collision.