Originally published at: FAA Shifts Helicopter Traffic Away From Reagan National - AVweb
The Federal Aviation Administration is changing helicopter flight zones around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in response to safety concerns brought to light by some serious incidents in the past six months. Maps of the reconstituted zones, released in an agency statement on Thursday, restrict flying over a large portion of the Potomac River…
This is a tacit admission that the FAA/Controllers are incapable of controlling traffic in one of the most controlled places on the planet. They cannot even separate traffic even if that traffic has the ability to stop in mid air and hover and wait.
I used to think that until I got my helicopter rating. Then I learned that helicopters do not stop and hover out of ground effect as a matter of routine for ATC separation. For one thing, depending on the helicopter and conditions (weather, loading), not all helicopters may have the power required to hover out of ground effect (probably less likely given the MSL elevations here, but maybe still a concern for some helicopters). For another, even if they can hover out of ground effect, with a single-engine helicopter and the altitudes here, if the engine were to fail there may not be enough altitude to perform a safe auto-rotation and would just be trading one problem for another.
Is that what it is, really? Thanks for factually explaining why new procedures are considered a benefit.
Does anyone think that the DCA controllers had any say in the design/implementation of the airspace around their airport? Lemme see, a couple of underpaid tower ops managers in consultation with the Pentagon, White House, and anything else in the DOD that flies aircraft. Even the head of the FAA (a political appointee) is gonna agree to whatever they want, and tell the controllers, “Just make it work.”
Which they did, for a long time. That was the literal definition of “an accident waiting to happen”.
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The only way to make the airspace safe in the DCA class B is to close DCA altogether. Of course Congress won’t allow that to happen to their own private airport. Can you imagine the outcry in Congress and in public if a GA airplane or helicopter were involved in the collision that happened? Someone will eventually have to determine who controls the airspace; either the FAA or the military!
Don’t stop with the airspace…make a few more changes
- All aircraft in and under the DCA class B on VHF comms. For that matter, VHF comms only while operating in any joint use airspace.
- All aircraft with transponders and adsb-out “on”.
No more special treatment for the military. It is shameful that the Pentagon has not publicly taken responsibility for this fatal collision.
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It’s basically sea level and these over powered military helicopters were designed to hover. Give up the drugs son.
There are more than just military helicopters in the area. Even a simple view of flightaware can confirm that. You might also want to leave the condescending remarks at the door - it doesn’t help your argument.
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The context was a crash between a MILITARY helicopter and an airliner at DCA.
That was the context and reason that this “change” is being done.
Any other traffic was irrelevant to the reason that this change was implemented.
So yea, when someone starts arguing with irrelevant factoids unrelated to the reason this change was put into place, I do think it’s rather funny. No offence.
Your proposed solution to “just have helicopters stop and hover in place for traffic” would have to apply to all traffic and not just military traffic. There are many operational reasons why that may not be possible, so no controller would ever be able to rely on that as a means of separation.
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Comprehension failure on your part.
I said that ATC could not even control traffic that had the ability to stop and hover.
I did not propose a solution, the FAA did. The FAA solution was that if they cannot manage traffic then the FAA will ban it. Simple.
Edit:
Of course this was already the most FAA regulated airspace on the planet; and yet they failed.
I don’t understand these sentences:
A new transition route, dubbed the “New Broad Creek Transition,” has also been established for helicopters headed south of the airport. It moves almost all helicopter traffic over the river, a significant change from the previous transit that was almost entirely over the water.
So the the old way was “over the water”, while the new way is “over the river”? The river is made of water, so the new way is “over the water” also. How is this a “significant change”? What does the story mean to say?
At the risk of almost agreeing with Arthur… If they can’t exactly hover, they can reduce speed to 30 knots and make a right 360 on a dime…
and make a right 360 on a dime…
. . . which would put them right back where they started from.
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