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81

Aviation Audio Clips / KDCA 5/26/25 1500Z Memorial Day Pt4 - Dep/Arr Stop for Medevac On Route 4

« Last post by baldiedc on May 28, 2025, 00:47:00 UTC »

~1513Z Stop on departures and arrivals for Medevac on Route 4...

• Medevac Pegasus-1 at Fort Washington heading to Children's Hospital in North DC requests Route 4 up the river thru restricted airspace requiring halt at DCA (TFR issued 5/13/25 https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr3/?page=detail_5_0390 in addition to the previous Route 4 closure).
• Potomac - "Well attention all aircraft looks like you're going to have to hold out some more for a helicopter operation - yey!"
• RPA5845 missed their chance to make it out in front of the medevac bc someone was "in the lav" .
• Meanwhile some separation/coordination needed between Pegasus-1 and Eagle coming the opposite direction back to the Nest on the Washington Channel towards Hains Point.
• Pegasus-1 originated from St Mary's in Richmond VA at 14:31Z so this was a 45min flight and they had to do a brief hold/circle at Fort Washington maybe due to the delay getting the right frequency for route clearance.  Other medevacs requiring DC transition from South/West of DCA have generally been going through VA in Zone 5 to the West of DCA and crossing Key Bridge from VA requiring coordination on the final transition but not a complete stop at DCA.

82

Aviation Audio Clips / KDCA 5/26/25 1500Z Memorial Day Pt3 - 2 Go-Arounds for Missed Approach & Traffic

« Last post by baldiedc on May 28, 2025, 00:45:17 UTC »

~1505Z Tower dealing with compacted sequence due to the previous stop...

• JIA5207 asked to circle to Rwy 33, with SWA1333 LUAW on Rwy 1, and RPA5693 on Final for Rwy 1 asked by Tower to do an S bend for spacing.
• JIA5207 has a missed approach (reason not stated, likely unstable) and go-around to the West, preventing timely takeoff clearance for SWA1333, so Tower has to send RPA5693 around to the East, repeating instructions due to some unclear readbacks (Controller likely focused on their turn to ensure they do not enter prohibited area P-56A, where Eagle is also operating).
• RPA5693 is asked by KRANT controller reason for go-around - "yeah... these guys putting airplanes on the runway when we're like about a mile and a half out"
• JIA5207 misses an unclear frequency switch to Potomac and both Departure 118.95 and Final 119.85 are calling for ~90s before Tower gives the frequency again.
• Medevac Pegasus-1 calls Tower a couple of times, was given 119.1 frequency by Potomac instead of 134.35.

83

Aviation Audio Clips / KDCA 5/26/25 1500Z Memorial Day Pt2 - Dep/Arr Stop for Moment of Silence

« Last post by baldiedc on May 28, 2025, 00:42:53 UTC »

~1457-1505Z Stop on departures and arrivals for Moment Of Silence including delay vectors on DCA Final Approach.

"we promise we'll be real quiet landing"

84

Aviation Audio Clips / KDCA 5/26/25 1500Z Memorial Day Pt1 - Departure Stop for VIP Movement

« Last post by baldiedc on May 28, 2025, 00:41:46 UTC »

~1439-1449Z Stop on departures for USPP Eagle helicopter over Arlington National Cemetery in advance of VIP Movement (Trump motorcade from WH to ANC).  Arrivals for Rwy 1/33 continue.

85

Aviation Audio Clips / KDCA 5/26/25 1500Z Memorial Day - 3 Stops, 2 Go-Arounds and a Medevac

« Last post by baldiedc on May 28, 2025, 00:40:33 UTC »

5/26/25 14:39-15:20Z (10:39am - 11:20am) ... Tough morning at DCA with 3 stops in ~30 mins due to Memorial Day events at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) and the knock-on effects of compacted traffic and a medevac on Route 4...

Split into 4 parts below...

1. Stop on departures for VIP Movement
2. Stop on departures and arrivals for Moment Of Silence
3. Compacted sequence with 2 Go-Arounds for Missed Approach and Traffic/Separation
4. Stop on departures and arrivals for Medevac on Route 4

Combo HELI/TWR/OJAAY(=DCA Final)/DEP/KRANT, edited for time, overlapping comms and content, not realtime etc.

86

Aviation Accidents/Incidents / Amazon delivery drone makes crash landing in Tolleson apartment complex

« Last post by KB4TEZ on May 27, 2025, 18:23:22 UTC »

https://www.azfamily.com/2025/05/22/amazon-delivery-drone-makes-crash-landing-tolleson-apartment-complex/


By Jason Barry
Published: May 21, 2025 at 9:32 PM EDT
TOLLESON, AZ (AZFamily) — An Amazon delivery drone made an unexpected crash landing Wednesday, coming down in the middle of an apartment complex in Tolleson.

Neighbors were surprised, but thankful no one was around when the drone went down near 97th Avenue and Roosevelt Street, not far from Interstate 10 and Loop 101 (Agua Fria) freeways.

“I look to my left and that’s when I see something big, and I’m like what is that?” said Nay Brooks, who was the first to spot the drone and took video of it on her cell phone. “I walk over to it and get closer, and that’s when I see the Amazon logo, ‘oh this must be an Amazon drone,’ so I immediately pull out my phone and I start recording. How did this crash in Tolleson at six in the morning.”

A few weeks ago, Amazon launched its Prime Air Drone Delivery service in Tolleson. Customers who live or work within a seven-mile radius of Amazon’s Fulfillment Center can have a package that weighs under five pounds delivered by drone in under an hour. More than 50,000 items are eligible for delivery.  The service appeared to have been going smoothly until now. Tolleson resident Theresa Hernandez has noticed many drones flying by in the sky.

“They’re not loud,” said Hernandez. “You can barely hear them, but they do pass through here fast. It’s not like they are here for a while, they just pass really fast.”

Arizona’s Family reached out to Amazon and received this statement:

“During a delivery this morning, a Prime Air drone made a precautionary safe landing due to external factors outside of its control. Safety is our top priority, and the drone’s onboard perception system worked exactly as it was designed by identifying a safe area for it to land. The drone landed safely, there were no injuries or damage to the property, and we’re thankful to our community neighbors for their support.”

Zoe Richmond, Amazon spokesperson

87

Aviation Audio Clips / Gear issue BeechK55 Santa Clara

« Last post by KB4TEZ on May 27, 2025, 12:49:53 UTC »

Date:   26-MAY-25
Time:   00:41:00Z
Regis#:   N6005E
Aircraft Make:   BEECH
Aircraft Model:   K35
Event Type:   INCIDENT
Highest Injury:   NONE
Aircraft Missing:   No
Damage:   MINOR
LOCATION
City:   SAN JOSE
State:   CALIFORNIA
Country:   UNITED STATES
DESCRIPTION
Description:   AIRCRAFT GEAR COLLAPSED ON LANDING, SAN JOSE, CA.

88

Aviation Audio Clips / SWA B38M at Denver on May 25th lightning strike loss of communication

« Last post by KB4TEZ on May 27, 2025, 10:57:33 UTC »

https://avherald.com/h?article=5283e3a9&opt=0

(and he wasn't the only one to get hit.  Nice job to the ATC's using IDENT Communication)

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration N8887Q performing flight WN-168 from Tampa,FL to Denver,CO (USA), was on approach to Denver at 11,000 feet when the aircraft received a lightning strike. Subsequently ATC could not hear the aircraft anymore and transmitted instructions into the blind, which were followed by the aircraft. The aircraft landed safely on Denver's runway 17L about 12 minutes later.

The airline reported the aircraft received a possible lightning strike but landed safely.

The aircraft is still on the ground in Denver about 15.5 hours after landing.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA168/history/20250525/2030Z/KTPA/KDEN

89

Listener Forum / KONT Clear/Del Freq Change

« Last post by N6RFB on May 26, 2025, 22:50:25 UTC »

KONT Clearance/Delivery has changed from 118.1 to 132.9. I picked up on this while listening to ATC give instructions to an aircraft and verified it at AirNav.  I have changed the scanner to reflect this change and will contact Dave about getting the SDR radio updated. Rich, N6RFB.

90

Aviation Audio Clips / KDCA 5/1/25 1830Z PAT23 Circles Pentagon / Go-Arounds x2 - Realtime 1830-1837Z

« Last post by baldiedc on May 26, 2025, 01:34:20 UTC »

5/23 - excerpts below from interview with the Army in the AP, 2 things of note:

1. Army refers to a 20 second loss of contact between Pentagon and PAT23 due to antenna issue, I am assuming in the above timeline this is referring to the time from 1830.59 to 1831.28, when it seems PAT23 initially contacted the Pentagon at 1830.59, there was a brief response 10s later at 1831.09 (content inaudible on the feed); PAT23 calls again at 1831.27 with more audible response at 1831.28 apparently referring to "have you loud ?and ?clear", which would seem to fit with comms issues.

2. "FAA air traffic controllers at the airport aborted the landing of a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 during the Black Hawk’s initial flight toward the Pentagon because they realized both aircraft would be nearing the Pentagon around the same time" (i.e. unrelated to the comms/landing issue which caused the 2nd go-around for RPA8525); this would fit with the above timeline of a 4 min window between the arrivals with a ~2.5min flight time from Glebe to Pentagon, but it took 80s to leave the hold and get to Glebe.  DAL1671 is given go-around at 1831.05 just after PAT23 tries to contact Pentagon for the first time.

In the original audio mix I posted I had edited out some of the initial PAT23/Pentagon radio calls due to the noise, so I'm attaching the original HELI feed in realtime from 1830-1837 with Pentagon transmissions amplified, otherwise unedited.  PAT23 calls on Pentagon frequency are the higher pitch static first heard at 59s.


https://apnews.com/article/army-helicopter-airport-collision-airlines-ff0cacada07048c43b55c6c4afeef256

Pentagon lost contact with Army helicopter on flight that caused jets to nix landings at DC airport

WASHINGTON (AP) — Military air traffic controllers lost contact with an Army helicopter for about 20 seconds as it neared the Pentagon on the flight that caused two commercial jets to abort their landings this month at a Washington airport, the Army told The Associated Press on Friday. (...)

Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the head of Army aviation, told the AP in an exclusive interview that the controllers lost contact with the Black Hawk because a temporary control tower antenna was not set up in a location where it would be able to maintain contact with the helicopter as it flew low and rounded the Pentagon to land. He said the antenna was set up during construction of a new control tower and has now been moved to the roof of the Pentagon.

Braman said federal air traffic controllers inside the Washington airport also didn’t have a good fix on the location of the helicopter. The Black Hawk was transmitting data that should have given controllers its precise location, but Braman said FAA officials told him in meetings last week that the data the controllers were getting from multiple feeds and sensors was inconclusive, with some of it deviating by as much as three-quarters of a mile.

“It certainly led to confusion of air traffic control of where they were,” Braman said. (...)

The FAA declined to comment on whether its controllers could not get a good fix on the Black Hawk’s location due to their own equipment issues, citing the ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. (...)

FAA air traffic controllers at the airport aborted the landing of a Delta Air Lines Airbus A319 during the Black Hawk’s initial flight toward the Pentagon because they realized both aircraft would be nearing the Pentagon around the same time, Braman said.

Because of the 20-second loss of contact, the Pentagon’s tower did not clear the Black Hawk to land, so the helicopter circled the Pentagon a second time. That’s when air traffic controllers at the airport decided to abort the landing of a second jet, a Republic Airways Embraer E170, because they did not have a confident fix on the Black Hawk’s location, Braman said.