FAA closes Washington route, DOGE cuts

The FAA has announced it will permanently shut down helicopter flights in the DC area on the same route that brought down an American Airlines plane on January 29, killing all aboard both aircraft.

Before the collision, there were 28 government agencies authorized to fly helicopters near Reagan National, including the Department of Defense, military services, law enforcement and emergency medical services.

The Army Black Hawk involved in the January crash belonged to the 12th Aviation Battalion based at Davison Army Air Field at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. That unit has a classified mission to ensure continuity of government by getting certain officials to safety in case of an attack.

Think evacuating critical personnel in an emergency – as fast a direct flight to the White House or wherever, pick up the VIPs, and scoot. Unfortunately the route between base and the pickup points lies right across approach paths to Reagan International, and the traditional bandaid is to restrict the choppers to 200 feet AGL when under the flight path. As we saw then – not necessarily a foolproof solution.

In a letter to Braman (Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, director of Army aviation – ed.), Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz pressed for answers on whether the Army Black Hawks regularly operate without transmitting location data, and how many flights it regularly conducted to transport dignitaries and high-ranking officers.

The FAA also said it is studying cities with airports where there are a high number of different types of aircraft sharing the same space, including eight metro areas with busy helicopter routes: Boston, New York, Baltimore-Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles.

Still doesn’t quite address what went wrong in the crash, I guess, but it does reduce the likelihood of a repeat.Military Times

Tip o’ the hat (and a big slice o’ pi since I write this on Pi day) to Jeff LPH.

DOGE says that in two days they canceled contracts with a max value of about $1,700,000,000.

Among them included an $8.5 million consulting contract for “fiscal stewardship to improve management and program operations in order to drive innovation and improve efficiency and effectiveness of business services; rethink, realign and reskill the workforce; and enhance program delivery through a number of transformational initiatives.”

Huh? Anyone playing buzzword bingo? I think you just won.

On Tuesday, DOGE announced the National Institutes of Health canceled multiple federal grants related to trans and sexual identity. Those include $699,000 for studying “cannabis use” among “sexual minority gender diverse individuals” and $620,000 for “an LGB+ inclusive teen pregnancy prevention program for transgender boys,” DOGE said.

Transgender boys, meaning girls who want a schwanz, right? Answer – jerk off if ya got one, quit letting guys screw ya if you don’t. You’re a guy? Don’t let guys screw ya. No charge for the solution.

Another included $225,000 in federal funds for the University of Colorado to study the “effects of hormones on headaches in transmasculine adolescents.”

On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins noted that a $379,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant in the San Francisco Bay Area to educate queer, trans and BIPOC urban farmers and consumers about food justice and values-aligned markets had been canceled.

Food justice?

And an even bigger birthday wish today to my buddy Bill, who turns gawdamighty old today on the Ides of March. I think he is damn near as old as the Caesar reference, and was my squad leader about 48 years ago.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Army