The helicopter was flying at 300-400 feet. The buildings to the southeast are shorter than that. Those areas are 3-4 story sparse developments not highrises. The plane was above and descending. It would be seen against the night sky. There would be no buildings near where the helicopter would be looking for the plane.

Landing approaches are started from specific navaids. This plane was not off course because it was given a different arrival route than expected.

The airspace around DC is some of the most restricted in the world. Routes into the national airport are very tight with little allowance for error. Most of the routes come in over the river to avoid overflying government buildings, and the involved plane had a sharp left final over the river. The plane may have turned when the helicopter wasn’t expecting it.

This is all speculation. Investigations into things like this are thorough. It is far to early to assign blame to anyone involved.

TCAS is a transponder based system. Warnings are suppressed at low altitude by design, and city lights do not interfere with it.

Runways get changed all the time for many reasons. Every runway at washington national is in a different direction, it would be a different approach entirely and not a last minute change. There is no evidence that the plane flew the approach wrong. There is ADS-B data for the full flight. Anyone can check the plane’s actual flighpath.

Pilots can refuse ATC orders that are unsafe. The approach they were originally planning would have crossed the river and had the same risk of traffic.

The helicopter pilot seeing the wrong plane is a likely explanation. There were other planes in the area. The controller warned of the traffic. The pilot confirmed having the plane in sight.

From information on flightradar24’s article, the collision happened at around 300-400 ft. Those altitudes are too low for TCAS to issue alerts. The Black Hawk had a transponder broadcasting with mode S, so it would be visible to TCAS and the tower, but it was not broadcasting ADS-B, which would let you see it on most flight tracking websites.

The jet would have received an audible TCAS alert if this happened at a higher altitude.

the 7 and 8 are all codenamed after plants. Lavender, Violet, Ginko, Begonia, Williow and Biloba.

Half are trees. Most are better names for trans women than Begonia.

Being trans really does give an unfair advantage in chess somehow… and so does wearing jeans.

I’m sure a trans woman wearing jeans would be so powerful at chess FiDE would have to invent a title above grandmaster.

I kind of wonder what the worst possible flower to have as a name. I would say begonia. Very pretty flower, not so pretty of a word.

I love the enunciation. There’s an elegance and poise to the consonants that I wish I could do myself.

It does however sound inauthentic, mostly in the tone and pitch. The tone is thin, and the pitch range is really compressed. You seem to be speaking as high as possible constantly, so you have no room to raise and lower your pitch during phrases.

Women’s voices are way lower than many people realize. Your recording is pretty illustrative of why most literature on voice training stress the importance of resonance over pitch.

The US did issue passports with an x gender marker. The first one was issued in 2021 after a lawsuit, and the option was on the official paperwork in 2022. Most would usually advise against doing so as many countries do not recognize the X gender, and would deny entry as a result. Be aware of where you want to travel and that those countries are accepting before you commit to the X marker.

That was before the newest administration. It remains to be seen how things will play out in future as many executive orders will be blocked in the courts. Executive orders are the lowest tier federal legislation, overruled by nearly everything else.

I AM MOVING FROM LEMMY.WORLD!!

It is my pleasure to announce that effective immediately, I am transitioning my account to lemmy.blahaj.zone! This has been a few months in the making, so my entire self is already onboard.

FAQ:
Why?
That’s a complicated question with a long answer! The primary reason is ideological similarities between me and Ada’s excellent team of admins. I am on good terms with Ada and her team, and have gotten her consent to do this.

How does this work?
Currently, as there is not an easy way to transfer an entire account (trust me, I checked), so I am logging out of the old account, and moving my focus to the hildegarde on lemmy.blahaj.zone. For you guys, functionally nothing has changed.

What about the posts?
Well, I tried to transfer them, but there was no real way to do so without absolutely destroying my brain’s sanity. For this reason, I am simply ignoring the old account. Everything is staying up. Direct messages are still enabled, but I’m not going to read them or anything.

You have to do what you have to do to be safe. I understand. Take care of yourself. <3

Despite your real life circumstances, at least while you’re here, the title of trans woman is yours if you choose to accept it.

If the effects of HRT sound magical to you, there’s a reasonable probability you could be trans.

I spent years reading trans communities on the internet, out of interest, while assuming I wasn’t trans myself. Now that I have started transitioning, my only regret is not starting sooner.

Thanks for sharing! If you ever do find yourself on a stage, do let me know.

I have experienced all of the emotional changes you describe. It turns out I was depressed the whole time and thought it was normal. I too was unaware of the general edge everything had.

My libido is also gone, but it was mostly an annoyance for me so no notes.

I’m definitely going to try cannabis again. It felt like a placebo honestly. Maybe it will be different now.