PSA CRJ-700 AA midair collision

NovemberEcho said:
The real irony with all the staffing talk (which 100% needs to be said) is that DCA is one of the best staffed facilities in the NAS. They have something like 25 of 28 certified controllers. Staffing is not an issue at DCA.
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As someone who operates out of DCA all the time, staffing is definitely an issue. Particularly on the ground. The ground controller handles all the push traffic as well as taxiing aircraft. During rush hours it is a nightmare. There is a metering frequency that is never manned. Maybe they’re at 25 of 28, but I’d say 28 is a low min required.
 
Airlines connect people at DCA, it's not "origin and destination" traffic that can benefit from bigger planes to ease congestion. AA/DL and others WANT all those flights, not less frequencies.
 
ChasenSFO said:
UA was running a 753 on the daily SFO-DCA for quite a while, dunno about recently now with all these MAX9s. I am unsure if seats were blocked Westbound, but it often left full Eastbound over the years.
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I recently did DCA-SFO in a max9. Flaps 25, bleeds off for takeoff. We weren’t weight restricted, but we certainly couldn’t take much more fuel, bags, or people.

757s are the perfect equipment for that airport, if the loads justify them.
 
averettpilot said:
As someone who operates out of DCA all the time, staffing is definitely an issue. Particularly on the ground. The ground controller handles all the push traffic as well as taxiing aircraft. During rush hours it is a nightmare. There is a metering frequency that is never manned. Maybe they’re at 25 of 28, but I’d say 28 is a low min required.
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I looked at the staffing myself shortly after this and I believe the number of certified controllers was less than 20 with like 7 trainees. That makes a difference
 
Pilot Fighter said:
The capabilities of an airport are limited. These limitations at any given airport are pretty well understood. More runways give ATC more options to handle the workload.
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Sidebar; this is the answer on a quiz in my class on how to increase airport capacity. It’s lifted directly from the reading of an FAA text and was meant to be an easy one, but I get wrong answers quite a bit.

“Runways. You need more runways. That’s it. Partial credit for your hand drawn approach sequence blowing through several traffic flows, a mountain, and most of downtown.”
 
ChasenSFO said:
Airlines connect people at DCA, it's not "origin and destination" traffic that can benefit from bigger planes to ease congestion. AA/DL and others WANT all those flights, not less frequencies.
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Yea, I know. But may it shouldn't be used as a connection hub. That alone would cut down on the number of aircraft traffic.
 
Rosstafari said:
Sidebar; this is the answer on a quiz in my class on how to increase airport capacity. It’s lifted directly from the reading of an FAA text and was meant to be an easy one, but I get wrong answers quite a bit.

“Runways. You need more runways. That’s it. Partial credit for your hand drawn approach sequence blowing through several traffic flows, a mountain, and most of downtown.”
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This is the way.

Also, less airplanes. Where there isn’t enough pavement or controllers the FAA needs to grow a pair and act like a regulator. Slots are the answer. Deal them out to airlines, keep a percentage for GA (all based on current and historical usage of the pavement), and let the users decide how to allocate them. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
 
pwttogfk said:
This is the way.

Also, less airplanes. Where there isn’t enough pavement or controllers the FAA needs to grow a pair and act like a regulator. Slots are the answer. Deal them out to airlines, keep a percentage for GA (all based on current and historical usage of the pavement), and let the users decide how to allocate them. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
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Or, and hear me out because this is gonna sound like absolute crazy talk. But maybe instead we stop the big old mean government from interfering in the All Powerful Free Market and let airlines decide what's best. We can best accomplish this by not putting artificial barriers on them massively overscheduling airports or burdening them with pesky rules and laws forcing them to actually deliver on their promises or having to compensate passengers for their failures. The faster we get government out of the business of regulating air travel the faster we will get reliable high speed intercity rail networks.

(Yes, it's sarcasm people, well, except the fact I do wish we had a reliable high speed rail network all across the country.)

Hammertime said:
I honestly think the solution to this is to prohibit connections in DCA.

Sorry DL and AA! We'd be happy to accommodate you over at the proper international airport 😜
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Except allowing connections is the only way flights on RJs to podunk-ville work from DCA. And heaven forbid a congress critter have to schlep their way out to IAD or BWI to fly home non-stop.
 
Hammertime said:
I honestly think the solution to this is to prohibit connections in DCA.

Sorry DL and AA! We'd be happy to accommodate you over at the proper international airport 😜
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I like Dulles, which may be an unpopular opinion. I don't mind Reston layovers, even though there's no soul there.
 
arkavgal said:
Yea, I know. But may it shouldn't be used as a connection hub. That alone would cut down on the number of aircraft traffic.
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This is real life in capitalist oligarchy America, good luck with that. Lets just lay off all the AA and DL hub staff and ask the airlines nicely to just close their hubs. Lol. DCA isn't any less set up to be a hub than SAN, and both are a hub for multiple airlines. IAD and BWI are not the same thing. Sounds like a knee jerk emotional reaction tbh.
 
guywhoflies said:
I recently did DCA-SFO in a max9. Flaps 25, bleeds off for takeoff. We weren’t weight restricted, but we certainly couldn’t take much more fuel, bags, or people.

757s are the perfect equipment for that airport, if the loads justify them.
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The one and only time I did DCA was the middle of summer, 95°, and even an -800 couldn’t take the 5 knot tailwind to match the flow ATC was running. Lucky for us they turned the airport around so we didn’t have to sit and wait for a gap for an opposite direction departure. I was left less than impressed with everything about the airport. Maybe if more Congress critters and their leech-like hangers on took the silver line to IAD we could actually get funding for transit in this country.
 
Hammertime said:
I honestly think the solution to this is to prohibit connections in DCA.

Sorry DL and AA! We'd be happy to accommodate you over at the proper international airport 😜
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I agree. DCA should never have become a hub.
Autothrust Blue said:
I like Dulles, which may be an unpopular opinion. I don't mind Reston layovers, even though there's no soul there.
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Plenty of space in Dulles for growth, but United already has a hub there. Between NYC, Philly and Charlotte, does American actually NEED a hub at DCA?
 
arkavgal said:
I agree. DCA should never have become a hub.

Plenty of space in Dulles for growth, but United already has a hub there. Between NYC, Philly and Charlotte, does American actually NEED a hub at DCA?
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In fairness, AA's JFK presence compared to DL and UA and EWR is utterly pathetic.
 
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