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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Why is anyone even talking about the controller?

    The controller asked the helicopter pilot if they had the jet in sight. The helicopter pilot said yes, and the helicopter pilot requested permission to maintain visual separation from the traffic. The controller granted that permission. The controller continued to monitor, and again asked the helicopter pilot if they had the jet in sight. The helicopter pilot again informed them that they did, and again requested to maintain their own, visual separation.

    Responsibility for this collision is on the helicopter pilot, not the controller.




  • You cannot positively control the actions of others, and others cannot positively control your actions. You can influence the actions of others, but you can only control your own.

    We can influence members of society to “stop taking advantage of people” all day long. But if you want to control whether people are taken advantage of, you have to address the victims rather than the perpetrators.

    Society can try to placate perpetrators. There’s little sense stealing something that everyone already has. We can appeal to the perpetrator’s empathy, but that assumes they have some. We can threaten repercussions and hope that has a deterrent effect. But, the final decision as to whether to perpetrate is always in the head of the perpetrator, and outside the reach of anyone else.

    If you want greater control over that decision, the only option you have is to take your own action.








  • I have spent about 45 seconds studying the Uberlingen case, so I don’t know much about it at all. From what I quickly gathered, the ATC cleared both aircraft to the same altitude and an intersecting course, and didn’t realize their mistake. That didn’t happen here.

    I did not hear communication from the helicopter, but that’s not unusual: LiveATC recordings often miss traffic from aircraft in certain situations. Based on the controller’s transmissions, I have every reason to believe the controller was in 2-way communication with the helicopter.

    The controller asked if the helicopter had the CRJ in sight. The next transmission asked the helicopter to maintain visual separation. This command would only be given if the helicopter had reported the CRJ in sight.

    This wasn’t an oversight; the ATC’s statements indicate they were aware of the conflict and were taking steps to remediate it. That doesn’t mean their steps were right; that doesn’t mean their steps were wrong. It only means that the radio transmissions indicate the controller was aware of the situation prior to the collision.