Biff_T

I actually flew in an orange mustang suit a few times. I hated those things. Never the less, it was orange and very reflective. Edit: Shirts are for pussies!

Very safe of you sir. The air force should make fully reflective flight suits, for safety.

The Martyr reminds me of the G-Spot (Guam).

My dirty boom operator scarf. It still smells like sweat and beer.

I miss the way George Dubya used to say "Vladimir Pootin".

When we flew in DC at the 1st HS, about half of the time we flew single pilot with a SMA in the left seat. They knew they maps as good and sometimes better than us pilots.

@Vito This. Sometimes you'd be 20 feet above of the water, depending on the altimeter setting. Also, we'd typically use the radar altimeter as a warning that you're too low and stay above that setting. The same technique I used in DC.

What does the AF say about wearing a dicky (fake shirt not donger) instead of a T shirt?

I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday about CAS. He was a snake eater in Nam. He said they'd periodically call in air strikes from BUFFs. He said the bombs would go off everywhere, sometimes he had to hold onto a tree to help with the shock waves. He laughed when I told him that nowadays, dudes can putt a bomb into someone's butthole from 30,000 feet.

He looks like a gay Darth Vader.

Gig lines

There are routes and zones around DC. The routes you have to stick to, if you need to deviate laterally you're supposed to get permission to deviate. The zones, you can fly wherever your heart pleases but you have yo stay below the maximum altitude. You're never supposed to go above the altitude listed on the map. As for the lateral confines for the routes, they're marked on the map buy a solid blue line. Otherwise known as the route.

I agree that they (CRJ) should have cleared final prior to landing but I wouldn't label this as causal. There's a certain amount of trust I'd have on the tower not clearing me to land with potential conflict on final. They weren't landing to an uncontrolled airfield.

Easiest fix (besides meeting altitude requirements while flying in B): Tower shouldn't let helos maintain visual separation with an aircraft circling to land 33 at night. Also tower, should have pinged Pat about their altitude. You can easily see with your eyeballs that Pat was too high. That was the first thing I noticed watching the video of the collision. Edit: I used to teach dudes to hover or do 180 when traffic was landing to 33. It happened enough that I made it a point to tell the new guys I flew with about it, as my instructors did for me. It's generally a bad idea to fly under landing traffic on short final.

This. Edit: "Skids down and locked" on the Huey

How about everyone starts in an A-10? Slow, multi engine and can probably do enough clover leaves and aileron rolls for the new guys to get a quarter chub. The transition to heavies or fighters after flying an A-10 should be a little easier than not flying at all.

Nothing. I made too general of a statement by typing the words "everyone involved". I agree.

I agree.

Im not sure about Army Helos but most USAF helos have VHF. VHF wouldn't have helped in this accident. If they had the 33 traffic in sight, they should have turned or hovered. The lack of SA (from all involved) plus an altitude deviation at a critical moment caused this. It's nearly impossible and dumb (in my opinion) to try and fly under landing traffic to 33. I know from experience. Edit: @tac airlifter makes a good point in a future post regarding this accident. The CRJ shouldn't be faulted for this. The lack of SA (from Pat and tower) plus the altitude error caused this.

Weren't you on the 86 USAFA hand ball team with uncle Allvin?

Holy shit dude! That's probably the coolest way to be exterminated. Nicolas Cage at his best.

Put them in Greenland.

Lol

This. On one checkride, I observed a Pilot blow through the ILS on base to final. He had no idea how this could have happened. So I intervened, to let him know that he forgot to check that he had the right course dialed in and that this was a direct result of the the Pilot neglecting to check his gig on the downwind. This created an electric phenomenon, causing the aircraft's ILS to malfunction. It was a shame, the dude was a good Pilot, but I had to teach him a lesson. Unfortunately for him, he did this during a checkride so my hands were tied. The only man I ever saw cry during a debrief. The last that I heard, he transitioned to be a woman Pilot flying rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong.