Friday Post: In My Neighborhood

Most of you will have read that there was a tragic air crash Wednesday evening at Reagan National Airport, near Washington DC. An American Airlines commuter jet on final approach to the airport collided with an Army helicopter. There were no survivors, if the manifest is correct 67 people died in the accident. 

I had flown out of that airport, on American Airlines about 10:30 AM that day. National Airport (DCA) is my home airport. It is in my neighborhood, I live about 5 miles south of the airport, on the same side of the Potomac River as the airport. Over the past 16 years I have flown in and out of that airport well over 100 times. 

The video clearly shows what happened, the helicopter flew into the passenger jet. It will take time to sort out why it happened. Where the aircraft off course, did the controllers make a mistake, did the two not see one another? At this point there are many questions and few answers. Almost always it is an accumulation of several small errors, that result in an accident like this. 

I snapped the photo above as we were taking off on Wednesday, the marina is the Washington Sailing Marina at Dangerfield Island (not really an island.) The major news stations were reporting from those docks Wednesday night.  

How does this make me feel about flying? It happens, but it is rare.  This was the first major fatal crash in the United States in 16 years. The most dangerous part of the trip, is getting to and from the airport.  Thousands of flights carry millions of passengers every week.  I will keep flying.  Even when tragedy strikes in my neighborhood.  

I fly home to DCA on Monday afternoon. 

On Thursday afternoon I posted the following to Fakebook, as I have been urged to do, speak up when things are clearly wrong. 

Racist, Sexist, Ableist, Trump shows his true colors.

There was a terrible and tragic aviation accident in my neighborhood Wednesday night, when an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter collided in mid-air, killing all 67 people on the two aircraft. At this point no one knows for sure what caused this accident. Experience tells us that it was probably a combination of failures and mistakes at the same time. 

Before the bodies have all been recovered, Trump is insisting that the accident was the result of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts (DEI.) His statements are inherently racist, sexist and ableist. In essence he is claiming that no qualified woman, person of color, or person with a disability is capable of learning how to do the job, and do it to a very high standard. This shows a degree of prejudice that is wrong and out of touch with reality. Maybe he means that standards have been compromised, if standards have been, that is a failure of standards not a failure caused by DEI. Committed, dedicated, qualified candidates come in all colors, shapes, sizes, genders, sexual orientations, gender identities, or ethnic origins. Trumps’ statements are offensive and wrong. 

I included ableist in my rant.  The work of an air traffic controller does not require the person to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (the focus of the investigation is on air traffic  control and the flight crews.) Air Traffic control requires the person to be able to coordinate and manage many moving planes at the same time.  A person with a physical disability may be even more suited to spending 8 hours a day focusing on radar screens, than a runner whose body needs to move to stay comfortable. We condemn far to many bright people to Social Security Disability because they can’t find a job, not because they can’t do the job. DEI should fill jobs with people who can do that job, based on abilities.