Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Potomac_River_mid-air_col...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-30/washingto... | https://archive.today/n1ark

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/plane-crash-dca-potomac-was... (CNN live updates)

https://old.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/1idbkyd/crash_at_dc...

https://old.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1idba8i/plane_cra...

https://x.com/aletweetsnews/status/1884789306645983319

https://archive.liveatc.net/kdca/KDCA1-Twr-Jan-30-2025-0130Z... | https://web.archive.org/web/20250130025411/https://archive.l... (event starts at 17:25)

https://archives.broadcastify.com/44114/20250129/20250129200... contains the ATC feed in addition to the PAT-25 (helo) radio.

~5:41 mark 5342 is given instructions for circling to 33. ~6:45 mark PAT-25 reports Memorial ~7:06 mark tower gives PAT-25 traffic advisory about 5342 and PAT-25 reports traffic in sight and requests visual separation ~8:12 mark tower asks PAT-25 if they have the CRJ in sight. PAT-25 again reports traffic in sight and again requests visual separation. ~8:21 mark, crash occurs, exclamations, go arounds issued

I'm impressed by your, and their, hearing comprehension here! Granted, English isn't my native language but even with concentration I struggle to hear what they say.

It's easy to forget how many skills and "heuristics" go into listening. I once read a scale of language proficiency that placed "Can converse over a poor phone connection" at a very high level. When a word is garbled or lost, you have to quickly think of all the possible words that could've fit the grammar and whatever sound you heard, consider them in the context, and choose one or two. Then the next part of the conversation should let you pick one. Then add the complication of not seeing body language.

I forget where I read this. I think it was from the US Department of State, but I can't find it now.

Previous experience with aviation radio comms helps a lot. Typical radio comms essentially follow a template, and it’s done in a way where you can safely approximate a LOT (…just not numbers). But the…phraseology if you will, can be approximated quite easily with experience.

Funnily enough, American ATC / pilots are, I find, a lot more frequently ‘fast and loose’ compared to other areas, even English-speaking ones. Countless recordings online of EALD pilots being befuddled by some self-identified hotshot air traffic controller using overly casual / sloppy language, sometimes resulting in near misses or worse.

Any takeaways from this? ATC not responding with separation but Blackhawk continuing anyway?

BBC live updates: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cy7kxx74yxlt

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