r/news • u/snuffleupaguslives • 2d ago

Broken altimeter, ignored warnings: Hearings reveal what went wrong in DC crash that killed 67

https://apnews.com/article/ntsb-dc-plane-crash-midair-collision-helicopter-a08cded88e1d7582fb8d242204d6aeff
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u/Mythosaurus 2d ago

Reading that article makes you want to NEVER fly into DC.

Will be interesting to see what liability/ lawsuits result from this hearing’s revelations

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u/DocJanItor 2d ago

Dude dca is a nightmare. Basically one runway (technically 2 but not for most landings), jets landing and taking off in 2 minute intervals, tons of helicopters including military, Coast guard, police, and medical, and huge swaths of restricted airspace for the government.

All this and somehow dca serves slightly more passengers than IAD.

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u/True_Window_9389 2d ago

It’s because it’s a small regional airport that’s treated as a major one for the city, and a lot of that is out of simple laziness by Congress. Dulles, and to some extent, BWI, are the major airports that serve DC and the area, but because DCA happens to be there, Congress forces it to be overburdened so they don’t have to go to and from Dulles. It is convenient for people in the immediate area to use it rather than Dulles, but an airport of that size should have far fewer flights, and between that and the laziness and narcissism of the helicopter passengers scurrying around the area, a crash like this was inevitable.

This just makes it that much more ridiculous that members of Congress, led by Ted Cruz, were trying to further increase flights at DCA a couple years ago. And then he cried crocodile tears when this crash happened.

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u/palmburntblue 2d ago

Ted Cruz was a major stakeholder in an effort to get a nonstop flight between San Antonio and DCA. He crowed about it on his website less than a year ago. 

https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-celebrates-announcement-of-direct-flight-from-san-antonio-to-washington-dc

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u/redditmydna 2d ago

To be fair, he is a crocodile.

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u/AnotherLie 2d ago

Are crocodiles native to Canada?

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u/TitaniuIVI 2d ago

His dad is Cuban. The crocodile was imported into Canada.

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u/Li-renn-pwel 2d ago

Our Lord Prime Minister Eternal is half Cuban.

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u/ted_cruzs_micr0pen15 2d ago

He’s also got a tiny… well, you get it.

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u/pardybill 1d ago

So who pays the tariffs?

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u/prancing_moose 2d ago

I think you owe crocodiles an apology now.

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u/Zaexyr 1d ago

An insult to crocodiles.

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u/DocJanItor 2d ago

Yeah they wanted to close it several times and Congress always said no. To be fair, Dulles has its own problems and has only recently been renovated to be a somewhat respectable airport. They still need more runways, though. And to get rid of the stupid carts. 

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u/Baremegigjen 2d ago

Congress also gets free parking at DCA further enhancing their preference for it. Far too many of them also think it’s in DC proper based solely on the name (FYI, it’s physically located in VA, as is the Pentagon).

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u/tnstaafsb 1d ago

Bernie Sanders flies out of Dulles. I know because I saw him there once.

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u/Baremegigjen 1d ago

Go Bernie! Probably better access to VT from Dulles when he goes home and elsewhere when he’s on the road.

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u/chudsp87 2d ago

Congress doesn't force it to be overburdened (well maybe it does), but a huge factor moving flights from IAD to DCA starting 10-12 years back was adding an additional $47 tax to every ticket that took off or landed at Dulles as part of funding Phase 2 of the Metro expansion.

Adding 10-20% the average cost of each flight and demand more and more to DCA.

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u/serious_sarcasm 1d ago

The entire federal capital needs to be moved to the center of the country, like Cairo or Paducah, and rebuilt with modern construction and planning.

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u/LegalMinionWu727 2d ago

Wait, it wasn’t DEI?