Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "Black Box recovered from helicopter in deadly DC midair collision" video.

@joeycarter8846 The helicopter was notified that it was on a collision course by the ATC. The helicopter also was supposed to be visually separating from other craft in the area and 150ft lower. I'm not really sure what the ATC was supposed to do when the helicopter stopped responding. I'm sure the investigation will fill in some of the gaps, but right now it looks like it was the helicopter crew that was at fault here, and not the ATC or the jet. And I wouldn't expect that to change.
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We know that, the more relevant question is why it was flying where it wasn't supposed to be and what could be done in the future to prevent it.
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@diydarkmatter Yep, so I don't know if that's something that's changed or if that only applies to the ones being flown overseas and the ones being flown in this airspace are equipped with them. But, I was under the impression that there wouldn't be one, which kind of makes sense if it's got sensitive data being collected that could leak information to the other side.
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@defnotthekgb8362 Thanks, I had a feeling that was probably the case now that they're announcing that they found one from the helicopter, there's just so little reason to lie about that. Considering that the likelihood of a military helicopter going down within the US' borders being lost to an adversary, it wouldn't have made much sense not to have one, unless the helicopter was designed in a way to make installation impossible. .
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@hsuehyuanchang The ATC didn't give clearance, the ATC specifically told the helicopter that it was on a collision course prior to the helicopter not responding further. It's unclear why that is, and hopefully there will be at least some information pieced together.
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@ That's certainly how it looks and I have a hard time seeing how the ultimate report is going to deviate too much from that given the degree to which the helicopter deviated from the flight plan at pretty much the worst position. There will probably be other bits like Congress forcing the airport to take on flights that they're stretched too thin to handle just so that there can be direct flights for politicians.
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@Boatyarddog Yep, even if it stands more or less correct, the why the helicopter was up that high is likely to be more interesting.
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We know the essential bits of what happened and how, there's going to likely be more information coming as they investigate as to why the helicopter wasn't where it was supposed to be when the collision happened and why it failed to respond in those last moments before the crash.
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@techietisdead Possibly, the source I heard was a veteran that CNN interviewed and she looked like she might have flown one of the older ones as she's now retired. People flying the most recent ones are probably still in the service and less free to talk about any of the specifics.
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