A preventable tragedy

The 67 deaths from the crash between a plane and a military helicopter in Washington DC is a terrible loss of life, and has a huge impact on perceptions of air safety.

Some air accidents are not easily preventable, such as massive mechanical failure. But a collision between a plane and a helicopter should never happen.

It seems clear the pilots of the plane were not to blame. They were landing at an airport where they were cleared to land.

So the fault will either lie with the pilot of the military helicopter or the air traffic controllers (or both).

The left are blaming Elon Musk for the crash as he had called months ago for the FAA Director to resign (over a SpaceX dispute) and the Director resigned on 20 January leaving no head of the FAA. Donald Trump is blaming diversity hires within the FAA. Both attacks seem ludicrous and ill informed at this stage.

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