DC Plane Crash

[joel]

I had fourth Cousin on that plane.

 

[mml373]

Some new info: & Some that conflicts earlier information.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political...nother-jet-aborted-landing-1-day-over-chopper

One thing I noticed is that so many talk radio shows had people talking about this disaster. The facts aren't fully out, yet, and I don't see why everyone must be subjected to commentary on this tragic event before an investigation is complete. It's like mental masturbation, just blathering about hunches all day long, plus more "no new news" at the top of the hour news.

 

[mml373]

Also interesting that as soon as it happened, Army said, "No high-ranking officers were onboard. That seemed a strange announcement.

I don't think so. High-ranking officials fly on helicopters all over Washington, DC, all the time. Seemed a pretty reasonable thing for them to say to allay the concerns of all the swamp creatures that one of their cronies might have been aboard.

 

[teeceetx]

That helicopter trajectory was just like that of a missile ... it never veered off course, even when it was clearly going to collide.

And I'll repeat ... something else was going on here ... this was not just a tragic accident!

 

[Magus]

Agreed, it stinks to high heaven, and now we also have a med-flight down.
All those poor kids.

 

[Haertig]

That helicopter trajectory was just like that of a missile ... it never veered off course

Do aircraft often veer off course if they see no reason to? I thought they usually traveled in straight lines as much as possible.

even when it was clearly going to collide.

This would tend to support the conclusion that they didn't realize they were about to collide with anything. Didn't see it, were focused on another close by aircraft and missed the one right in front of their face.

 

[Supervisor42]

Do aircraft often veer off course if they see no reason to? I thought they usually traveled in straight lines as much as possible.

This would tend to support the conclusion that they didn't realize they were about to collide with anything. Didn't see it, were focused on another close by aircraft and missed the one right in front of their face.

One of the intelligent media people (yeah, I realize that is an oxy-moron ) mentioned that the chopper was gaining altitude, and when one does, it goes tail-up, and nose down.
They wouldn't be able to see something in their flight path above them.

 

[zoomzoom]

One of the intelligent media people (yeah, I realize that is an oxy-moron ) mentioned that the chopper was gaining altitude, and when one does, it goes tail-up, and nose down.
They wouldn't be able to see something in their flight path above them.

Ummm, that doesn't sound right to me. When tail goes up and nose is down, you're DESCENDING, not ASCENDING. It's controlled by the cyclic stick.
But what do I know. I only worked on utility/attack military helicopters for my stint in the Marines.

 

[Haertig]

Ummm, that doesn't sound right to me. When tail goes up and nose is down, you're DESCENDING, not ASCENDING. It's controlled by the cyclic stick.
But what do I know. I only worked on utility/attack military helicopters for my stint in the Marines.

I'm pretty sure Super is referring to this typical manner of helicopter takeoff:

I would imagine that most helicopter ascents/descents are done from a fairly level attitude when not actively engaged in initial takeoff trying to build up forward speed, or final descent with forward motion just prior to touching down.

I believe helicopters can drive themselves forward and down with the tail up. You see them doing this "in the movies" all the time when they're chasing dinosaurs and stuff like that. I can't say I've ever "seen a movie" where the helicopter is ascending with it's tail down though, except when moving rapidly backwards possibly, trying to get away from a dinosaur.

 

[zoomzoom]

That's ascent. The helicopter in this incident was more-or-less flying level. A couple hundred feet of altitude is just a second or 2 on the collective stick.

Damn dinosaurs. They've ruined many a good helicopter.