During Thursday night’s Hannity, guests geopolitical strategist Ret. Lt. Col. Darin Gaub and aviation attorney Sal Lagonia provided unique insights into Wednesday night’s D.C. plane-helicopter collision.
Gaub, who has experience flying Black Hawk helicopters, said “two major things” stick out for him.
“One, I believe that there is a procedural error or problem here. Somebody violated the rules and procedures that surround D.C.’s national air space. And that means, for example, this Black Hawk helicopter could have broken the altitude restrictions on the air corridors that go down the Potomac River. I’ve heard reports that the helicopter was up near 400 feet or so when it was restricted to be below 200 feet,” Gaub said. “That can cause serious problems when you have fixed-wing commercial airliners landing over top of you that are counting on you being 200 feet lower than you might actually be.”
Gaub continued: “Second thing is communications. Clarity, two-standard air traffic control communications go back to all the stuff you just listed about hiring practices in the FAA and personnel shortages. Some of the communications I’ve heard lead me to the conclusion that there were significant communications challenges where I believe that helicopter thought it was able to go behind the aircraft the ATC told them to and, in fact, did not see the aircraft the ATC wanted them to go behind.”
Watch Gaub’s analysis above.