As the Trumpites of the 'Destroy the Republic' Cult Blame the FAA, Turns Out it Was the Chopper Pilot's Fault

by Scott Creighton

 

And of course, that wont do because if it is the fault of the helicopter pilot, then the military is on the hook for millions of dollars in compensation for EACH of the victims.

But no, the JD Vance/Peter Thiel 'destroy da ebil gubmint' cult will have you believe it's black people or women or disabled people who are at fault because 'big gubmint' hired Helen Keller and Charlie Manson to be air traffic controllers.

At least that is the story over at Fox News, who also, by the way, hate our country and it's constitution and laws.

But here is the truth as we know it so far:

 

'The helicopter was supposed to be flying closer to the bank of the Potomac River and lower to the ground as it traversed the busy Reagan National airspace, four people briefed on the incident said.

Before a helicopter can enter any busy commercial airspace, it must get the approval of an air traffic controller. In this case, the pilot asked for permission to use a specific, predetermined route that lets helicopters fly at a low altitude along the bank on the east side of the Potomac, a location that would have let it avoid the American Airlines plane.

The requested route — referred to as Route 4 at Reagan National — followed a specific path known to the air traffic controller and helicopter pilots. The helicopter confirmed visual sight of a regional jet and the air traffic controller instructed the helicopter to follow the route and fly behind the plane.

But the helicopter did not follow the intended route, the people briefed on the matter said.

Rather, it was above 300 feet, when it was supposed to be flying below 200 feet, and it was at least a half-mile off the approved route when it collided with the commercial jet.'  New York Times

I predict you wont hear much about this anymore. The move these days is to smear 'big gubmint' so they can make it small enough to drown in a bathtub.

And when that happens, good luck boys. The 'let it be' economy will transition into the 'so what?' air traffic control. By the way, those are federal gubmint employees you know. Screw em. Don't need air traffic controllers. Just fly and see what happens. Land when you want. Seating issues? Want to sit next to the window? Punch the old lady in the face sitting where you want to sit and throw her in the isle. Fuck it! Might makes right!

All gubmint bad! Including Trump because, uh, in 2019 his administration backed the plan by the FAA to hire disabled people to work for them.

I can't believe Donald Trump wanted blind, deaf, quadriplegic, learning disabled psychos to control the air traffic around Washington D.C. Unbelievable!  

All kidding and irony aside, it was an awful accident that certainly wasn't helped any by Trump administration's war on government.

But it seems (at this point at least from experts evaluations) an active head of the FAA or another controller in the room probably wouldn't have stopped it from happening. All the controllers can do is tell pilots where they are and where they need to be. If they don't do it, for whatever reason, horrible things can happen.

Yes we need more air traffic controllers. Yes, we dont need an MTV reality TV star heading up the FAA. Yes, you can damn sure expect more of this kind of tragedy if the JD Vance and Peter Thiel acolytes get what they want... no gubmint.

All that is true.

The investigation will proceed but like TWA Flight 800 going down during the Clinton days (or MH370), I seriously doubt the responsibility will fall where it should. I will leave you to connect those dots. Not hard to do.

All that being said, Trump's behavior at that press conference was despicable. Just casting out his accusations and theories based on nothing in order to deflect blame away from his war on government having already taken a toll on the FAA.

One of these days the rest of the world is going to wall us off and lock us in and throw away the key. And with good reason. We blindly support genocide and wage war for profits and threaten smaller countries into doing the bidding of our oligarchy (national interests, lets be honest)

And our 'president' acts like this right after a horrible accident?

This is beyond the pale of human decency. 

So maybe so are we. After all, you get the government you deserve, don't you?