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A plane and helicopter over DC came within 500' of each other over DC barely 24 hours before the crash. They avoided collision because they were over 1000' and
by hwillis 2y ago
A plane and helicopter over DC came within 500' of each other over DC barely 24 hours before the crash. They avoided collision because they were over 1000' and the TCAS was still active: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huVFZ__q2rI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huVFZ__q2rI
During the day the only thing that was keeping those collisions from happening under 1000' was pilots seeing each other. At night the only thing keeping it from happening was luck.
The error is in allowing flightpaths to be so close to each other in distance and time.
- BJones12 2y ago> A plane and helicopter over DC came within 500' ... They avoided collision because they were over 1000' and the TCAS was still active That's not an example of why air travel is dangerous, that's an example of why air travel is safe.
- sangnoir 2y agoThe Aviation safety industry considers near-misses as an indicator of danger, and worth reviewing. A near-miss followed by a crash is maximally damning of the system.
- hwillis 2y agoThere is a single failsafe which barely worked when the event was above 1000'. Under 1000' TCAS is automatically shut off. The flightpaths in the area of the airport are all significantly below 1000'. There are zero protections there except for the awareness of the pilots.
- coin 2y agoTCAS RAs are disabled below 1000 feet, TAs are still enabled
- coin 2y ago> They avoided collision because they were over 1000' and the TCAS was still active No. The RPA4514 had the helicopter insight. Pilots are required to follow TCAS RA regardless of ATC instructions or if insight. What makes you think they would have collided if TCAS hadn't alerted?