In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

This is the question Juan Browne, the highly respected aviation YouTuber, asked in the post above nine months ago. He continued, In the last couple of days, we've had no less than three to four major incidents that, if we continue to perform at this level, will eventually lead to disaster. He was clearly correct in his prediction. Whatever the efficient cause of Wednesday night's collision -- and based on the information that's slowly dribbling out, a politically connected DEI helicopter pilot may be partially responsible -- the formal cause seems to be the long-festering disorder within the air traffic control system, run by the FAA. If this particular glitch didn't cause a disaster, the next one would have. Browne discusses in detail three of the incidents he refers to. The most interesting for us here took place on April 18 last year at Reagan National, where Wednesday night's collision also took place. He begins his discussion of this at 7:31. It...

As an avid viewer of Air Disasters reruns on the Smithsonian Channel, I've been trying to soak up every detail about the Washington regional jet-Army helicopter collision. But one comment by a Fox News guest sums up the whole situation: "It's our system that is bad and that's what has to be looked at. To be honest with you… we need to take a bulldozer to the front of the FAA. This is bad management, and it's putting us at risk," Boyd Group International President Mike Boyd said Thursday in reaction on "Mornings with Maria." "We had two flying machines run into each other over the Potomac. That is the FAA's job to avoid those things," he argued. "We have all kinds of human issues here. But the fact is, we've had near-miss after near-miss for the past 20 years. Now we've had a collision. The collision is the responsibility of the FAA and the air traffic control system. Somebody failed." Until late yesterda...

So far, I think the best single source on the Washington, DC collision of a regional jet and an Army helicopter is the YouTube updates by longtime pilot Juan Browne on his blancolirio channel. I linked his first one in yesterday's post. Embedded above is an update from yesterday afternoon. I'll refer to several other sources that tend to confirm or expand his views in this post as well. It's worth noting that American Airlines CEO Robert Isom iossued a preliminary statement at a press conference yesterday , “At this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft,” Isom said at a Thursday morning press conference. Isom said in a staff note Thursday that the National Transportation Safety Board would be the “sole source of truth going forward, and accuracy is of the utmost importance.” PSA Airlines is an American Airlines subsidiary and one of its regional carriers. American Eagle is how American Airlines brands its regiona...

NOW — Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy: “Whether it was air traffic control, whether it was military aircraft, helicopters or the American flight, everything was standard in the lead up to the crash … Something happened here.” pic.twitter.com/ojRVAf34ZO — Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) January 30, 2025 A YouTube commentator that I trust on aviation matters, Juan Browne on the blancolirio channel, a working airline pilot with both military and civilian experience, has a good video with graphics. At 0:50, he says, . . . the [Regional Jet] flies the approach to this Runway, 1, the long runway, and then sidesteps around here to a left dogleg entry to Runway 33, the relatively short runway at about 5200 feet long here at Washington DC, a very demanding approach. This crew is focused on this approach. This midair collision occurred just below 400 feet above the ground. The National Guard helicopter, believed to be eithet as UH60 or VH60, was presumably operating out of Joint Base B...

I ran across this video by a UK YouTuber that gives an entertaining perspective on Trump;s current effort to buy Greenland. The key takeaway is that acquiring Greenland has been a US strategic objective since 1867, when Secretary of State William H Seward attempted to purchase it from Denmark along with his purchase of Alaska from Russia. (He also wanted to buy Canada from the UK.) According to Wikipedia , Since the 19th century, the United States has considered, and made, several attempts to purchase the island of Greenland from Denmark, as it did with the Danish West Indies in 1917. Internal discussions within the United States government about acquiring Greenland notably occurred in 1867, 1910, 1946, 1955, 2019 and 2025 and acquisition has been advocated by American secretaries of state William H. Seward and James F. Byrnes, privately by vice president Nelson Rockefeller, and publicly by president Donald Trump, among others. After World War II, the United States secretly o...

Catholic Charities shocking video instructing Illegals on how to avoid ICE. You tax dollars fund this sh*t. They receive millions in Government grants. pic.twitter.com/LtG0OLGYwr — Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) January 27, 2025 Via Catholic News Agency: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Sunday argued that its long-standing refugee program is a “work of mercy” after Vice President JD Vance criticized the bishops’ positions on immigration issues.' . . . The USCCB on Sunday argued that its own work with refugees is part of a “long history” of Catholic advocacy for vulnerable migrants. “In 1980, the bishops of the United States began partnering with the federal government to carry out this service when Congress created the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP),” the bishops said in the statement, which did not mention Vance. “Every person resettled through USRAP is vetted and approved for the program by the federal government while outside of the U...

I found a surprisingly even-handed story on Vice President Vance's exchange with Margaret Brennan on yesterday's Face the Nation that covered, in part, the USCCB's condemnation of Trump's immigration-related executive orders, at America magazine. The full interview is embedded above. The America piece reports, In Vance’s first interview since becoming vice president, host Margaret Brennan noted that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops “condemned” Trump’s immigration-related executive orders, and asked Vance, “Do you personally support the idea of conducting a raid or enforcement action in a church service, at a school?” “Of course, if you have a person who is convicted of a violent crime, whether they’re an illegal immigrant or a non-illegal immigrant, you have to go and get that person to protect the public safety. That’s not unique to immigration,” he said. “But let me just address this particular issue,” he continued. “Because as a practicin...