DC plane crash

It's reported that the plane had a bunch of Russian figure skaters on board. Along with a bunch of other Russian nationals.

RIP but I wonder how the Russian media will spin this.

You'd be surprised - they confirmed names of athletes and coaches, very sorry for such loss and would wait till results of the official investigation..


P.S. I read some more and apparently all passengers were American Citizens (Kids of Russian emigrants) so Russian Government came with statement "It will not issue any official comments at this point" due to this fact...
 
Last edited:
RIP to the families. That's a horrible way to go.

Shocked that a military helicopter can just cruise along a busy flight path. One would figure that there would be a better system than to fly in front of a flight path.

Apparently these helicopters are a common sight in the area - used for transferring varios politicians and dignitaries around the area. This time it was a "training mission" with only 3 crew members without any high ranked officers onboard..
 
A number of young skaters and others connected to a figure skating club in Boston were among those killed :(

"Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe said Thursday that skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, along with 1994 pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia. In all, 14 of the victims were coming back from a national development camp for promising young skaters following the U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas, Zeghibe said."

RIP to the young skaters, parents & coaches who were on that flight.
 
In a rare display, the entire NTSB board was part of the press briefing. Normally there is one (or two if one is training). Maybe because of location, maybe because it was the worst crash in decades.

 
A number of young skaters and others connected to a figure skating club in Boston were among those killed :(

"Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe said Thursday that skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, along with 1994 pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia. In all, 14 of the victims were coming back from a national development camp for promising young skaters following the U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas, Zeghibe said."

RIP to the young skaters, parents & coaches who were on that flight.
At least one skater (I think coach) was denied boarding as his dog was too big so he was driving home. Shishkova and Naumov's kid was in KS but came home a few days ago.
 
I don't have an active subscription anymore so I can't personally check audio but it will come out tomorrow. ATC was talking to helicopter and told it to pass behind the CRJ (although that command may have come too late).

EDIT:
14 bodies and 4 survivors so far. That's better than I expected. RIP.
Trump said no survivors but if there are survivors it would be a miracle due to the fireball explosion. A pilot commented the altitude as 400 feet.

The reports will be a challenge. The commercial aircraft won't have much in the way of sensitive technology. The Blackhawk could be a different story. Military secrecy and redaction could fudge the outcome. I don't know the protocols, but the military often uses different frequencies and navigation systems. Cockpit voice recordings for both craft might give a hint but considering the closing speeds the last words could "Oh ****."
 
I don't get with the tech that this aircraft have on board how this happens, you would think bells and lights would be pinging like crazy They must have some sotra APD system?
 
Trump said no survivors but if there are survivors it would be a miracle due to the fireball explosion. A pilot commented the altitude as 400 feet.

The reports will be a challenge. The commercial aircraft won't have much in the way of sensitive technology. The Blackhawk could be a different story. Military secrecy and redaction could fudge the outcome. I don't know the protocols, but the military often uses different frequencies and navigation systems. Cockpit voice recordings for both craft might give a hint but considering the closing speeds the last words could "Oh ****."
Later reports said no survivors. Time will tell if there were some that were pulled out alive and didn't make it or if the reports of survivors were always wrong.

ATC tapes the public have can hear ATC>Blackhawk but cannot hear Blackhawk>ATC as that is UHF not VHF. JBAB is just across the river. They will have tapes of everything Blackhawk based. Who knows whether they will participate fully or not. This is going to be a huge civil settlement.
 
I don't get with the tech that this aircraft have on board how this happens, you would think bells and lights would be pinging like crazy They must have some sotra APD system?
APD?

TCAS RA's are inhibited below 1000' as they tell one to go up and one to go down. You can't do that if there is no down to go. It sounds like blackhawk had transponder off so there was no TCAS available anyway.

Remember, this blackhawk was a glorified taxi. Callsign was PAT. Priority Air Transport. It probably has comfy seats but probably not the latest and greatest tech.
 
that plane would be on approach and past the outer markers, polit would on the stick. APD aircraft detection
 
that plane would be on approach and past the outer markers, polit would on the stick. APD aircraft detection
Yes but they may never have known about the helicopter. If they had heard the conversation, blackhawk said they had it in sight and were told to go behind so given the high workload of landing, CRJ would have moved on and ignored it.

Today, this seems to be mostly on the helicopter pilot with ATC getting a portion of the blame for imprecise language. "Do you have the plane in sight" and the blackhawk apparently acknowledged. Which plane? It's busy airspace. Blackhawk was probably looking at the wrong plane, CRJ probably never saw a damn thing.
 
Back
Top Bottom