Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Raybs Constance video.
Speaker 2: Well, this time last night, a tragedy had struck Washington, DC,
Speaker 2: and I watched the news today and watched television today,
Speaker 2: and it is the story. It is the story of
Speaker 2: the day. There was a news conference and a statement
Speaker 2: from President Trump this morning which has generated a little
Speaker 2: bit of controversy. The President linked what happened last night,
Speaker 2: didn't link it directly, but talked about a DEI, which
Speaker 2: I think was an honestly unnecessary and an unenforced political error.
Speaker 2: So I would like to focus on the tragedy of
Speaker 2: last night, the loss of life sixty four people on
Speaker 2: the plane from Wichita to Reagan National Airport, as well
Speaker 2: as the three military personnel. Now, I have no idea
Speaker 2: what happened. I suspect no one in the audience knows
Speaker 2: what happened. These are the sorts of accidents that are
Speaker 2: investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, and that they
Speaker 2: may have an interim report that comes out a couple
Speaker 2: of months from now, or it may be a year
Speaker 2: before the final report comes out. But there was enough
Speaker 2: reporter today that has troubled me, and it troubles me
Speaker 2: as just as a human being, but it also troubles
Speaker 2: me as someone who spends a little bit of time,
Speaker 2: not a lot of time in airports and on airplanes
Speaker 2: during the course of the year. Two things that trouble
Speaker 2: me the most are as. I understand that. And I
Speaker 2: watched a lot of the reporting today from the cable
Speaker 2: network's news channels as well as the nightly newscast ABC
Speaker 2: Evening News. I watched that's my newscast of choice at
Speaker 2: six point thirty, and I understand it, and some of
Speaker 2: you probably know more about this than I do, so
Speaker 2: I want to open this up as kind of a discussion.
Speaker 2: We call this show North America's back Porch. I don't
Speaker 2: use that nomenclature as often as I should, but I
Speaker 2: view this program as a program similar to the all
Speaker 2: houses that maybe some of you grew up in many
Speaker 2: years ago when life was a little simpler, and they
Speaker 2: would be a front porch or a back porch where
Speaker 2: people would gather on a good you know, spring, late spring,
Speaker 2: early summer, midsummer night, and people would come up on
Speaker 2: the porch and talk. And that's the metaphor that I
Speaker 2: use for our program. So I guess the first thing
Speaker 2: that troubles me that I heard about was that the
Speaker 2: helicopter was flying in an altitude of three hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty feet, because that is where they crash occurred. So
Speaker 2: three hundred and fifty feet in the air, that's longer
Speaker 2: than a football or higher than a football field. If
Speaker 2: you would turn a football field perpendicularly, I guess if
Speaker 2: you took the end zones, that you'll let stadium the
Speaker 2: one hundred yards of the field, and then there's ten
Speaker 2: yards on each end, so we're talking about one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty yards. That's about three hundred and sixty feet. Okay,
Speaker 2: So that's where the crash occurred. Didn't take long for
Speaker 2: those for the plane and the helicopter to fall out
Speaker 2: of the sky into the Potomac River. They're still trying
Speaker 2: to find bodies tonight, and hopefully they will find everyone,
Speaker 2: and that part of the story will bring some closure,
Speaker 2: I guess to some extent. I don't know that we'll
Speaker 2: ever have these families will ever have closure. We'll get
Speaker 2: to the families in a moment. The other story that
Speaker 2: has broken tonight, according to the New York Times, staffing
Speaker 2: was not normal at the Reagan Airport tower. According to
Speaker 2: an FAA report. Now this gets interesting. This is an
Speaker 2: article that was written by two women, Sidney Ember and
Speaker 2: Emily Steele, who was updated this afternoon about three point
Speaker 2: forty two. Staffing at the air traffic control tower at
Speaker 2: Ronald Reagan National Airport was not normal quote not normal
Speaker 2: for the time of day in volume of traffic. According
Speaker 2: to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report about
Speaker 2: the collision that was reviewed by The New York Times,
Speaker 2: the controller who was handling helicopters in the airport's vicinity
Speaker 2: on Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing
Speaker 2: and departing from its runways. Those jobs are typically typically
Speaker 2: assigned to two controllers rather than one. The increase this
Speaker 2: increases the workload for the air traffic controller and can
Speaker 2: complicate the job. One reason is that controllers can use
Speaker 2: different radio frequent to communicate with pilots flying planes and
Speaker 2: pilots flying helicopters. While the controller is communicating with pilots
Speaker 2: of the helicopter and the jet, the two sets of
Speaker 2: pilots may not be able to hear each other. Like
Speaker 2: most of the country's air traffic control facilities, the tower
Speaker 2: at Reagan Import has been understaffed for years. The tower
Speaker 2: there was nearly a third below target staff levels, with
Speaker 2: nineteen fully certified controllers as of September twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: According to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan
Speaker 2: and ANERWER report to Congress that contains target and actual
Speaker 2: staffing levels. The targets set by the FAA and the
Speaker 2: Controllers Union call for thirty. So both the FAA, which
Speaker 2: represents the government, and the Controllers Union call for thirty
Speaker 2: fully certified controllers, but in September twenty twenty three, there
Speaker 2: were only nineteen fully certified controllers. The shortage, caused by
Speaker 2: years of employee turnover and tight budgets, among other factors,
Speaker 2: has forced many controllers to work up to six days
Speaker 2: a week and ten hours a day. The FAA did
Speaker 2: not immediately respond to a quest to a request for comment.
Speaker 2: Now we have heard most of us, I think have
Speaker 2: heard some of the traffic, the audio traffic, and this.
Speaker 2: I want to play this for you because I think
Speaker 2: it's pretty critical. It always seems to me, now not
Speaker 2: an air traffic controller, but it seems to me that
Speaker 2: air traffic controllers have to speak and make decisions very quickly,
Speaker 2: and they are life and death decisions. Even surgeons in
Speaker 2: operating rooms or doctors in emergency rooms have more time
Speaker 2: to make some of these decisions. Rob, if you can
Speaker 2: locate cut sixty three, this is air traffic control audio
Speaker 2: from the plane helicopter crash near DC. You'll hear a
Speaker 2: comment at the end that says, I saw a fireball,
Speaker 2: then it was just gone. I think that's another pilot.
Speaker 2: There was a plane above and behind the American Airlines
Speaker 2: flight from which you tak So Rob, if you've located
Speaker 2: sixty three, let's play it and listen to it.
Speaker 3: Fire Command. The accident happened in the river.
Speaker 4: Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river
Speaker 4: is east of the.
Speaker 5: Approach end of runway three three.
Speaker 2: Real close. Yes, the airfield is closed. The airfield is closed.
Speaker 6: World, Yes, all runways are closed.
Speaker 5: Nobody's landing, no one's moving at all.
Speaker 6: It was probably out in the middle of the river.
Speaker 5: I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone.
Speaker 1: So any since they hits a river, but it was a.
Speaker 5: CRJ and a helicopter that hit.
Speaker 3: I would say maybe a half mile off the approach
Speaker 3: in the.
Speaker 7: Three three.
Speaker 2: Obviously that's air traffic control audio, and that is after
Speaker 2: the accident has occurred. Now, the American Airlines CEO, guy
Speaker 2: named Robert Isisim, released a video, just a video expressing sorrow,
Speaker 2: which is perfectly understandable and it is not in any way,
Speaker 2: shape or form and acknowledgment that his crew messed up.
Speaker 2: At this point, we don't know who messed up, but
Speaker 2: we know that someone messed up because these two planes,
Speaker 2: these two aircraft, should not have been anywhere near one
Speaker 2: another at this time. This is cut number sixty four.
Speaker 2: Rob this is the American Airlines CEO.
Speaker 4: Hello everyone, I'm Robert Eisen, the CEO of American Airlines.
Speaker 4: I want to brief you on a serious accident that
Speaker 4: occurred involving an American Eagle aircraft. The aircraft was operated
Speaker 4: by PSA Airlines, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Speaker 4: American Airlines. First, and most importantly, I'd like to express
Speaker 4: our deep sorrow about these events. This is a difficult
Speaker 4: day for all of us at American Airlines, and our
Speaker 4: efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers,
Speaker 4: crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and
Speaker 4: loved ones.
Speaker 2: Well, the families and loved ones are the one who
Speaker 2: need most of the support. Now we've learned throughout the
Speaker 2: day that there were six people on that flight. Two
Speaker 2: teenage US national figure skaters, a young man from Barrington,
Speaker 2: Rhode Island, Spencer Lane, sixteen years old, a young girl
Speaker 2: thirteen year old, Gina Hahn. I watched she's from Mansfield.
Speaker 2: I watched video of both of them tonight. They were
Speaker 2: out at a development camp for American figure skaters in
Speaker 2: the Wichita area. They obviously had been identified by their
Speaker 2: coaches as people with incredible potential and probably at some
Speaker 2: point in our lives we will watch them completely competing
Speaker 2: in the Winter Olympics for our country. Their moms, Christine
Speaker 2: Lane and Jin Hahn, they were with their teenagers and
Speaker 2: they died in the crash along with them, as well
Speaker 2: as their coaches. Eugenia Shishkoba and Vadim Knockmov, two Russian
Speaker 2: nationals who relocated here at some point several years ago,
Speaker 2: were living in Norwood. They were nineteen ninety four national champion,
Speaker 2: and I'm trying to remember back if ninety four was
Speaker 2: an Olympic year, but either way, they which they were
Speaker 2: world class figure skaters who now were world class coaches
Speaker 2: thirty years later, and they were on the plane as well,
Speaker 2: So six people that we know of. There apparently were
Speaker 2: some other members from the figure skating community who lived
Speaker 2: in other parts of the country who had taken the
Speaker 2: flight from Wichita to Washington because there are no direct
Speaker 2: flights from Wichita to Boston. So I just like tonight,
Speaker 2: as we often do sparticularly in times of tragedy, is
Speaker 2: open up the phone lines and give you an opportunity
Speaker 2: to say whatever you like about this. There's no controversy here.
Speaker 2: This is just a national tragedy, similar to the aircrash
Speaker 2: that wiped out the US figure skating team in nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty one when they're playing crashed in Belgium. I believe
Speaker 2: it's It was difficult last night to continue to do
Speaker 2: our show last night realizing that a lot of people
Speaker 2: probably had had their attention rightfully, so turned to the
Speaker 2: disaster in Washington. So tonight, let's focus on that and
Speaker 2: say what you'd like. If you know any of these folks,
Speaker 2: if you're from the figure skating community, you know the
Speaker 2: Boston Skating Club used to be on Soldiers Field Road,
Speaker 2: very close to WBCTV, and recently, well in the last
Speaker 2: few years, they built a magnificent building in Norwood. I
Speaker 2: believe I've not been out there, but I believe it's
Speaker 2: on Route one, and it just was perfect. There's going
Speaker 2: to be some national competition here in Boston late in March.
Speaker 2: This is some monumental tragedy. So I just have one
Speaker 2: other thing to say, two things to say, six one, seven,
Speaker 2: thirty three thirty later on tonight, I would like to
Speaker 2: talk about this for a couple of hours because I
Speaker 2: think it's important to express your feelings, and for not
Speaker 2: only for you to express your feelings, but for people
Speaker 2: to realize that none of us are alone, and this
Speaker 2: all of us. This is what all of us are
Speaker 2: thinking about tonight, and so to do anything else, even
Speaker 2: something as important as confirmation hearings, Cabinet confirmation hearings, it
Speaker 2: doesn't work. We will spend an hour at eleven o'clock,
Speaker 2: from eleven o'clock to twelve and talking about Internet and
Speaker 2: social network and social network addiction. We have a guest
Speaker 2: who we had on a couple of weeks ago and
Speaker 2: I thought he was really good. We're going to bring
Speaker 2: him back tonight and give you a chance to talk
Speaker 2: to him and ask you a question. So that's that's
Speaker 2: the agenda for the evening, pretty straightforward. Feel free to
Speaker 2: join the conversation. The only line that remains open right
Speaker 2: now is six one, seven, nine, three, one ten thirty.
Speaker 2: My name is Dan ray We'll be back right after
Speaker 2: this on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Lie from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on w b Z, the news radio.
Speaker 2: Let me go to the phones right away. Let me
Speaker 2: go to John and Denim. John, appreciate you getting us
Speaker 2: going tonight. You were first tonight on Nightside. Your thoughts
Speaker 2: on this horrific event last night.
Speaker 7: Well, then after what you just said about the staff,
Speaker 7: and I said, you know, and I meant to I
Speaker 7: want to call it, you know, you know other times
Speaker 7: about this, but I'm more angry than anything right now.
Speaker 7: But how how is this? How will we but all
Speaker 7: the millions billions we spend on crap? If I could
Speaker 7: say the word, how do we not have stuff? I'm
Speaker 7: looking at the disasters like New Orleans with that truck
Speaker 7: that went down street, the fires in California that could
Speaker 7: the damage could be minimized, and the Secret Service a
Speaker 7: sleep at the wad of for twenty year old kid
Speaker 7: and it just goes on and on. What happened? What
Speaker 7: happened is the accountability. Like I said, I'm just angry
Speaker 7: because this did not have to happen. Let me tell
Speaker 7: you if.
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree with I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 2: The word is accountability. You just wonder how look I'm
Speaker 2: at it every time I go to the airport. I
Speaker 2: don't know about you, but it's like I'm at a
Speaker 2: bus station. But do you do you fly often or no?
Speaker 7: Not as much as they used to. But I know
Speaker 7: what you mean.
Speaker 2: It's like a bus station.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And I look at I think, how do they keep
Speaker 2: how do they keep the plane safe up there? This
Speaker 2: will stay with me for a long time. I know
Speaker 2: that there hasn't been a big commercial disaster like this,
Speaker 2: they said, since the crash in Buffalo in two thousand
Speaker 2: and nine. But how can of all the places in
Speaker 2: the world that you would want to have overstaffing, it
Speaker 2: would be an FAA troll tower.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm sorry, Dan, but it's like if if ever
Speaker 7: you need a redundancy or check some balances, listen that
Speaker 7: I go up in Brighton I go up skating at
Speaker 7: that skating Cup of Boston. As you know, I live
Speaker 7: in Dead of Mouse. I'm not too far from a
Speaker 7: new rank, beautiful rank. And it's like a thirteen year old,
Speaker 7: sixteen year old kid for what because somebody didn't staff,
Speaker 7: we couldn't get we couldn't get enough money to staff
Speaker 7: enough controllers. I don't get it. I just don't get it.
Speaker 2: I don't either. It's it seems to me that that
Speaker 2: there's a there's a new sheriff in town. Donald J. Trump,
Speaker 2: and if he would focus on the problem that you
Speaker 2: just identified. He spent some time today looking pretty presidential,
Speaker 2: but then he kind of drifted off and wanted to
Speaker 2: to talk about diversity Inclusion DEI. I am as frustrated
Speaker 2: with some of the DEI programs that exist as anybody.
Speaker 2: But I don't think he was smart to bring that
Speaker 2: up today because there's no suggestion that this had anything
Speaker 2: to do with people who were hired and were not confident.
Speaker 2: It has everything to do with they weren't enough people
Speaker 2: up there period.
Speaker 7: I mean, at this point, again, base of what you said,
Speaker 7: I don't even I don't think I'm getting to blame. Obviously,
Speaker 7: you need a full investigation. But it doesn't sound like
Speaker 7: it's even the controler's fault. It's like, just you have
Speaker 7: I'm wondering, like, did both the helicopter pilot and the
Speaker 7: air air wine pilot listen to the same instructions today?
Speaker 7: From what I understand, he was handling both.
Speaker 2: If I heard right, that's what That's what the New
Speaker 2: York Times are saying this afternoon, right, or said.
Speaker 7: That's the case. It's like, uh, and Daniel, what you say?
Speaker 7: They working like ten hours a day and they yeah,
Speaker 7: do you want a doctor at the end of his
Speaker 7: twenty hour ship to operate on you? It's like and
Speaker 7: that Obviously we've heard about how many close causes have
Speaker 7: been around the country, so it's obvious. I hope, I
Speaker 7: hope Trump and you know, Trump does it. I think obviously,
Speaker 7: like you said, new sheriff in town. But again, I
Speaker 7: hope this investigation comes out and it's not it's unbiased,
Speaker 7: totally objective. Put the boy where it was. If there
Speaker 7: wasn't enough staffing, why I wasn't there staffing? Don't tell
Speaker 7: me there's not enough money. You can find money. You
Speaker 7: find billions, illegals, you can find minor staff and control.
Speaker 2: Cow absolutely and and by the way, this is an
Speaker 2: opportunity for Donald Trump. I know today that there was
Speaker 2: a couple of the reporters he talked about signing an
Speaker 2: executive order last week, and one of the reporters asked
Speaker 2: him this dumb question, like, well, you signed the executive order,
Speaker 2: how did this happen? I mean, it does take some
Speaker 2: time for policy to be to be put in place.
Speaker 2: So let's hope that that he does the right thing
Speaker 2: for everyone. And one more thing, yeah, true, yeah, true.
Speaker 7: Because after what you just said, you just reminded me
Speaker 7: of was it like a few days ago, I thought
Speaker 7: I heard Elizabeth Warren criticizing Trump for inflation and and
Speaker 7: and I don't know if you saw that, and it
Speaker 7: it's like you didn't criticize buy for four years. This
Speaker 7: guy just gets an office and you already criticized it
Speaker 7: because I think the egg price and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me let me let me tell you. She's
Speaker 2: on the she was on the war path yesterday. I
Speaker 2: thought she made a fool of herself yesterday. The Wall
Speaker 2: Street Journal actually gave her a good review, but I
Speaker 2: thought she was totally both she she and Bernie Sanders
Speaker 2: were totally out of control yesterday. But that's a story
Speaker 2: for yesterday. Let's let's focus on the folks whose lives
Speaker 2: have been taken from us. You know, mothers and uh
Speaker 2: and coaches and skaters who had everything to live for.
Speaker 2: And I was tough watching the news tonight at six
Speaker 2: o'clock and seeing Nancy Carragan out there as well as
Speaker 2: doctor Tentley. All right, you know two great New Englanders
Speaker 2: who we know, all Bright as a physician but also
Speaker 2: as an Olympic skater and Nancy Kerrigan. So let's let's
Speaker 2: get it right, folks. And this is an opportunity. Donald
Speaker 2: Trump doesn't have to point fingers at anyone. Do yourself
Speaker 2: a favorite President Trump, and make the changes that need
Speaker 2: to be changes, and get it right, get it right,
Speaker 2: simple as that. Thank you, John, appreciate your call very much.
Speaker 2: I think we lost them. All right, we take a break.
Speaker 2: We're coming back on night Side right after the news
Speaker 2: at the bottom of the era and the lines are
Speaker 2: still full, so back off. I'll let you know in
Speaker 2: this an open.
Speaker 1: Line night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 8: Cars for Kids, your trusted charity for car donations also
Speaker 8: accepts donations of boats, RV's motorcycles in real estate. Call
Speaker 8: today eight seven seven. Cars for kids earn four percent
Speaker 8: annual percentage yield with a rate locked money market account.
Speaker 8: It's a Federal credit union guaranteed through June thirtieth, with
Speaker 8: no monthly fees. Visit Diirect dot com. Terms apply twenty
Speaker 8: five thousand dollars minimum deposit. Federally insured by NCUA.
Speaker 9: Own a truck, car or suv. Visit Yankee Custom to
Speaker 9: outfit your vehicle with brands like access Cover, WeatherTech and
Speaker 9: tooling for locations in the right parts right now. Visit
Speaker 9: Yankee Custom Truck dot com.
Speaker 8: If you're like most people, you have zero interest in
Speaker 8: savings accounts that pay pretty much zero interest.
Speaker 2: What's the point? Right?
Speaker 8: With the recent rate cuts and more likely coming, it's
Speaker 8: harder to turn a decent return. That's why Direct Federal
Speaker 8: Credit Union did the research for you. Turns out you
Speaker 8: can still get a four percent annual percentage yield on
Speaker 8: a ratelock money market account at Direct Federal Credit Union.
Speaker 8: That's right, four percent. The ratelock money market rate stays
Speaker 8: the same through June thirtieth, even if savings rates drop
Speaker 8: after June you still get a market leading rate. It's
Speaker 8: four percent APY one hundred percent guarantee with unlimited withdraws,
Speaker 8: twenty four to seven online access and no monthly fees.
Speaker 8: While savings rates drop at other banks, Directs stays the same.
Speaker 8: The ratelock money market from Direct Federal Open yours atdirect
Speaker 8: dot com are called eight eight eight two Direct. That's
Speaker 8: eight eight eight two Direct. Terms and conditions apply. Twenty
Speaker 8: five thousand dollars minimum deposit to yield four percent APY.
Speaker 8: New money only federally insured by NCUA paid.
Speaker 10: No attorneys, pokesperson paid for by Action Matters.
Speaker 8: Texting Privacy policy and terms and conditions posted at XLAN
Speaker 8: dot us.
Speaker 10: Texting enrolls you for recurring automated text marketing messages.
Speaker 8: Message and DAT rates may apply.
Speaker 2: Repliestop to opt out.
Speaker 10: Attention anyone who used depo Provera or other prescription birth
Speaker 10: control shots. If you or a loved one used depo
Speaker 10: Provera and were later diagnosed with brain tumors or intracraniomen
Speaker 10: in gioma, you may be entitled to significant TASH compensation.
Speaker 10: Text Legal to two hundred three hundred right now to
Speaker 10: see if you qualify. A new study has uncovered evidence
Speaker 10: linking depoprevera use to the development of brain tumors, and
Speaker 10: emerging lawsuits allege that manufacturers of depo Provera knew the
Speaker 10: risks for decades but failed to warn people of the
Speaker 10: potential harm. If you are a loved one used depo
Speaker 10: Provera or other prescription birth control shots and were later
Speaker 10: diagnosed with brain tumors or intercranialmen iningioma, you may be
Speaker 10: entitled to significant tash compensation Text legal to two hundred
Speaker 10: three hundred. Don't wait time to file a c is limited.
Speaker 10: Text the word legal to two hundred three hundred. If
Speaker 10: you are a lowed one developed brain tumors after using
Speaker 10: depo provera, you may be entitled to significant cash compensation.
Speaker 10: Text legal to two hundred three hundred. That's legal to
Speaker 10: two hundred three hundred. Legal to two hundred three hundred.
Speaker 11: Feel New Fresh, I like.
Speaker 2: It a lot.
Speaker 8: My Precints presets are the best.
Speaker 4: To join the millions already on the new and improved
Speaker 4: iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 2: It's just like my car radio on my phone. Find
Speaker 2: your new favorite feature on the iHeartRadio app. Today iHeart Radio.
Speaker 1: You're listening to WBZ ten thirty one oh seven point
Speaker 1: nine HD two available everywhere with the iHeartRadio app now
Speaker 1: number one for podcasting and on hundreds of devices like Alexa,
Speaker 1: Google Home, Xbox, and soos. WBZ Boston's news radio and
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio station.
Speaker 11: I'm Nicole Davis the quick check of the stories trending
Speaker 11: right now on WBZ News Radio ten thirty. Opponents of
Speaker 11: the plan to demolish Whites Stadium in Boston and build
Speaker 11: a new home for a pro women's soccer team are
Speaker 11: making their voices heard.
Speaker 10: Holding signs with slogan's like what would Olmsted say in
Speaker 10: private sports complex equals traffic gridlock. A group of protesters
Speaker 10: chanted over the brooming construction.
Speaker 2: We're out here today because look at what's going on
Speaker 2: with our park. You know, we don't even get a
Speaker 2: voice in what's happening.
Speaker 8: It's Jeff, this is how it is.
Speaker 11: And you're gonna bulldoze through the community. You're gonna bulldoze
Speaker 11: through our park, and you don't care about how we feel.
Speaker 11: That report they're from wbz's Madison Rogers. Meantime, Northfield Mount
Speaker 11: Herman School has received the biggest donation in the school's history,
Speaker 11: fifty million dollars from a former student, John Mitchell, who
Speaker 11: died back in twenty twenty two. The money goes towards
Speaker 11: student need based scholarships and support for faculty and teachers.
Speaker 11: I'm Old Davis.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZZY, Boston's news.
Speaker 2: Radio, Back to the Folds. You're go going to go
Speaker 2: to Fred and Dad and Fred next on Nightside. Your
Speaker 2: thoughts on this very sad night, Yes.
Speaker 12: Dan is too little things make it quick. One is
Speaker 12: I guess two nights ago at that airport in Washington
Speaker 12: and American Airlines had a problem. There was one of
Speaker 12: military helicopter in his way and he had to get
Speaker 12: a wave off, and he had to go around and
Speaker 12: come in a second time because he didn't have a
Speaker 12: clear sight onto the runway. And then I heard on
Speaker 12: television tonight in Boston they've had three situations in Boston
Speaker 12: in the last six months in which pilots had to
Speaker 12: take evasive action because of a second airplane. So I'm
Speaker 12: beginning to get a little bit scared about this whole thing.
Speaker 12: Have a good night, Bye bye two Thanks.
Speaker 2: Thanks Fred, appreciate your call, and I certainly understand exactly
Speaker 2: what Fred has to say every time I fly, I'm
Speaker 2: I'm nervous, and and this this will stick in my
Speaker 2: mind for for a while. That that's for sure, it'll
Speaker 2: stick in all of our minds. It's amazing that these
Speaker 2: these planes get up in the air. Never mind that
Speaker 2: they stay up in the air. Let me keep rolling here,
Speaker 2: going to go to Rick and Bill Ricker next nightside
Speaker 2: right ahead, Rick.
Speaker 3: Hey, Dan, how are you okay? Yeah, very very very sad,
Speaker 3: very sad day. First off, yeah, Trump saying, you know,
Speaker 3: foolish things like the EI. I mean, if there was proof, fine,
Speaker 3: he can say at all he wants, but he doesn't
Speaker 3: have to go there. He undermines his intelligence by by
Speaker 3: even saying it. It's it's foolish and it's not the
Speaker 3: appropriate time. And didn't you say a few minutes ago
Speaker 3: on the year that uh for three years or two years?
Speaker 3: Reagan National, Reagan International. It's Reagan. It's an international airport, right, It's.
Speaker 2: Called Reagan the international airport. But yeah, Reagan National, Ye,
Speaker 2: go ahead.
Speaker 3: Reagan National Airport has been understaff for three years now
Speaker 3: or two years.
Speaker 2: Well September twenty twenty three, so a year and a half.
Speaker 3: A lest how can that be legal? How can that
Speaker 3: be legal? I mean.
Speaker 2: Is that both the FAA and the union. So the
Speaker 2: government and the union agree that they need thirty full
Speaker 2: time you know, FAA air traffic controllers, FA air traffic controllers.
Speaker 2: And as of September twenty twenty three, which is well
Speaker 2: a year and a half ago, it was down to nineteen.
Speaker 2: I mean, you can't cover all the shifts. I mean
Speaker 2: those airlines. Those airlines start flying at five o'clock in
Speaker 2: the morning and they don't shut down until midnight. Can
Speaker 2: how can you cover seven days? And you can't have
Speaker 2: people sitting there for eight hours without a bathroom break
Speaker 2: or a food break. You have to have, you know,
Speaker 2: more than one person in the control tower. It's crazy,
Speaker 2: It's absolutely crazy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that's not my problem, Like your problem is
Speaker 3: they're going to be open for business. They have to
Speaker 3: get people and train them and offer them good enough
Speaker 3: money and keep them on the job. And this is
Speaker 3: just I just I sent my brother off yesterday to
Speaker 3: take a flight to Florida for a cruise, and I
Speaker 3: just thought from you know, sent them to Logan Express
Speaker 3: in Woburn, and I was like, whoa. It just caught
Speaker 3: me off card, but it's it's so tragic. Remind it
Speaker 3: takes me back to the lockery Scotland. I think it
Speaker 3: was pan Am. I know that was far more people
Speaker 3: on it. There was like two hundred and seventy people.
Speaker 2: That also was That also was a bomb that detonated.
Speaker 3: That was that was. That was a whole different thing,
Speaker 3: I know, but it just made me think of it
Speaker 3: for some sug I.
Speaker 2: Mean again, these people are sitting These folks are sitting there.
Speaker 2: I'm sure they're talking, they're excited, They're about to land
Speaker 2: there on half way home, and within a nanosecond they're dead.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, the only good thing and there
Speaker 2: was no good thing in reality. But they probably didn't suffer.
Speaker 3: Well that's I hopefully not because they hit they hit
Speaker 3: the cold water. But I you know, I just think
Speaker 3: to myself in closing, uh tonight, with with the with
Speaker 3: we have AI robots that can talk and make movements
Speaker 3: like human, we have the Myers over, we have all
Speaker 3: this incredible technology, and the only thing I can think
Speaker 3: of is sometimes people forget to pay attention. I feel
Speaker 3: so sorry for the person who who was who reported it,
Speaker 3: who was kind of on behind the controls of the
Speaker 3: you know, the what is it called, I'm losing my
Speaker 3: train of thought, you know, the the the attendant in
Speaker 3: the in the station. I feel sorry for that person
Speaker 3: for not knowing. But I just think, with all the technology,
Speaker 3: how can this happened? You've you've you think that also?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure you think about technology. The question is
Speaker 2: are they trying to do too much or with too
Speaker 2: little resources? Are there too many planes up there? Too
Speaker 2: many people? Are are we overextending everybo Look? I want
Speaker 2: the economy to do well. I want people to be
Speaker 2: able to fly, but maybe they have to just cut
Speaker 2: back and say, hey, look these you know, some of
Speaker 2: these hubs, I mean Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, Dallas. I mean
Speaker 2: they're landing planes every uh, you know, it seems like
Speaker 2: every two minutes. I just don't know that they can
Speaker 2: that they can handle it. And all you need is
Speaker 2: one and maybe this will be turned out that the
Speaker 2: that the helicopter pilot his alterrimeter wasn't working or he
Speaker 2: didn't see they'll have a reason here. I don't think
Speaker 2: this was intentional. This was a mistake. No, no, of course, yeah,
Speaker 2: but we have to make sure that that these mistakes.
Speaker 2: You just can't say, Gee, I wish we had fewer mistakes,
Speaker 2: because any mistake is unacceptable at this level. You're talking
Speaker 2: about a plane that has sixty seven souls on it
Speaker 2: and they're gone as simple as that. Look. Appreciate you
Speaker 2: call Wrick. We'll talk soon. Okay, thanks buddy, absolutely, thanks,
Speaker 2: but only right now six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty. We're going to go next to Ruth in Westwood. Ruth,
Speaker 2: appreciate you taking the time to call you next on nightside.
Speaker 2: Go right ahead.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I I I remember the nineteenth because you want
Speaker 5: playing crash and because I used to figure skate and
Speaker 5: all those people who died were my friends.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember it very well as well. And that
Speaker 2: set back. Yeah, you know our Olympic skating programs. I
Speaker 2: mean all of those young people have gone and gone
Speaker 2: in an instant.
Speaker 5: Yeah right, just I already saying something that you may
Speaker 5: think of It was horrible, but I no mean competitors
Speaker 5: the way I feel, I don't think they would have
Speaker 5: minded if that had happened when they were coming back. Really,
Speaker 5: I mean I think it's someone had gone up to
Speaker 5: Brother Lord or Maratha Own and said, if you're going
Speaker 5: to win gold but you'll die of plank posh on
Speaker 5: the way back. I know competitors fairly well, and I
Speaker 5: think that some of them would have gone, well, okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I'm not quite sure the point you're trying
Speaker 2: to make, Ruth, because I'm.
Speaker 5: Trying, and I'm trying. I don't know what the point
Speaker 5: I'm trying to make about that is. But I knew them,
Speaker 5: I remember them. It was awful. I feel equally horrible
Speaker 5: for the parents of these poor kids and the grandparents
Speaker 5: of these poor kids, absolutely because I know exactly what
Speaker 5: it's like, and my heart purs out to them, all right,
Speaker 5: and I hope thank you will and you but I
Speaker 5: want someone said about the slight controllers that these people
Speaker 5: pay by the federal government to people who sit there
Speaker 5: and tell the planes but one way to go, John,
Speaker 5: And they're not paid enos, and they're orange. Enough of them,
Speaker 5: and they are retiring, and that's one of the reasons
Speaker 5: that you're getting more and more of this kind of
Speaker 5: thing happening here, all right, because enough of them them.
Speaker 2: We've hit that. And and I thank you for calling,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for adding your voice to our
Speaker 2: conversation today.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry if I sound like a luna chip. I'm
Speaker 5: rearing up.
Speaker 2: You sound upset, and I think we're all up. Thank
Speaker 2: you so much. Let me get real quickly here, Alex
Speaker 2: and Millis Alex want to get you in here soon enough.
Speaker 2: The way through the commercial go ahead, Alex.
Speaker 7: Oh hid My heart goes out to those fourselves. But
Speaker 7: I was going to say, there's three possibilities. It's either
Speaker 7: the helicopter pilots, the American Airline plane, or the air
Speaker 7: traffic controllers.
Speaker 2: I think you've covered the waterfront there for sure.
Speaker 7: Well one of the three is gotta be you know
Speaker 7: what happened. But the other thing is I thought we
Speaker 7: had you know, the planes have an anti collision warning device,
Speaker 7: but I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: I'm not, I'm not doesn't work below I'm told it
Speaker 2: doesn't work below one thousand feet, and they they collided
Speaker 2: in three and fifty feet, right.
Speaker 7: Can I tell you many years ago, I was flying
Speaker 7: into because I've flown so many times to Greece, I
Speaker 7: was flying into Athens Airport and all of a sudden
Speaker 7: the landing gear was having an issue and I could
Speaker 7: see so I could see the you know, the emergency
Speaker 7: vehicles you know below and thankfully everything worked out okay,
Speaker 7: but it was so and I can't imagine what those
Speaker 7: people want through if they did, if they probably didn't. Yeah,
Speaker 7: that's what's happened. Now.
Speaker 2: I think I think obviously never should have happened. I
Speaker 2: just think it was pretty all right.
Speaker 7: It's a tragedy.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you so much. I appreciate your calling. Yeah,
Speaker 2: good night, good night. Take a break here on Nightside.
Speaker 2: I got a one line at six one seven, two
Speaker 2: five four and one at six one, seven, nine thirty.
Speaker 2: Back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now, back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Hey, let's keep it rolling. You're gonna go to John
Speaker 2: in Boston. John, tough night here, You're you're next on
Speaker 2: night Side, John.
Speaker 7: Yeah, ah right, good evening, Dan. Lately what I've heard
Speaker 7: on the radio, I feel so upright gone. My stomach
Speaker 7: feels sick. You know, uh this news tonight, Uh the
Speaker 7: other day or last week. Uh, twenty one year old
Speaker 7: woman got out of the car and Vermont and shot
Speaker 7: and killed the board of a trolley agent. They shot
Speaker 7: back and killed the boyfriend put in the hospital. I
Speaker 7: hope you've covered that.
Speaker 2: One well, did yeah.
Speaker 7: I mean, yeah, you did, okay, but I mean you
Speaker 7: can't do.
Speaker 2: Like a whole hour on it. But it's insane. I
Speaker 2: mean twenty one year old. Oh gives a woman a
Speaker 2: twenty one year old anything but crazy that takes here
Speaker 2: her life?
Speaker 7: Go ahead, yeah, yeah. And then I heard the news
Speaker 7: an eighteen year old boy shar teenage girl in the face.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 7: My stomach's upside down thinking about all this and this
Speaker 7: last night. This reminds me of when I was in
Speaker 7: junior high school. Mister Lucci said, these things are towering
Speaker 7: monument in these people's lives. Most of us we listen,
Speaker 7: we'll probably move on pretty quickly from it and remember it.
Speaker 7: But these people that affects it's a towering monument in
Speaker 7: their lives. And I don't know why the air traffic
Speaker 7: controllers are on the staff. New rules should be put
Speaker 7: in place. They shouldn't work more than six hours a day.
Speaker 7: They're well paid with an hour break in between this.
Speaker 7: There's no excuse money wise. I mean, it makes me sick.
Speaker 7: This country gives billions to I won't name the country,
Speaker 7: some billions of this country. There are plenty money to
Speaker 7: give away to other countries. There should be well, they
Speaker 7: should be well paid there, and there's no excuse for
Speaker 7: anything like this. I don't understand it. You know why
Speaker 7: any airport or any traffic control tower has to be understaffed.
Speaker 7: That's what I don't get.
Speaker 2: Listen, people respond, John, I agree with you totally. Of
Speaker 2: all the places that should be overstaffed or certainly fully staffed,
Speaker 2: it would be airports because.
Speaker 7: And well paid. But I don't think they should work
Speaker 7: among the six hours a day. Those people. I'm with you,
Speaker 7: they got enough to do. Yeah, I'm with you. Shouldn't
Speaker 7: mean not only the six hour days, more than enough.
Speaker 7: We don't want them overwork.
Speaker 2: Thanks, thank you, Thank you, John, Thank you. Question. That's
Speaker 2: a good suggestion. Mel Is in Watertown, Meil. You're next
Speaker 2: time nightside, go.
Speaker 7: Right ahead, my Dan, can you hear me?
Speaker 2: I can hear you. Fine, Thanks, it's Melanie. Huh, go ahead.
Speaker 6: So I just wanted to say, long time listener, second
Speaker 6: time caller, okay, go ahead. But this issue has me
Speaker 6: so upset. And there was another night I wanted to
Speaker 6: call you too, So these are both related. I just think, well, first,
Speaker 6: prayers go out to the folks that lost their lives,
Speaker 6: their families, their loved ones. It's horrific having had a
Speaker 6: chance to do the research. But this has been a
Speaker 6: well known problem that we don't have enough air traffic
Speaker 6: controllers in the pipeline.
Speaker 7: It takes a long.
Speaker 6: Time to train them. It's not a matter of just
Speaker 6: paying them enough. There's not enough people to even fill
Speaker 6: the seats. So it's not like you can just snap
Speaker 6: your fingers and have these people at already. It's the
Speaker 6: same thing with firefighters, police officers. We don't pay them
Speaker 6: all you don't want And just today I got so
Speaker 6: mad listening to the diversity because if they hired people
Speaker 6: that did have disabilities, maybe we would be even better
Speaker 6: off because they would want the job and they would
Speaker 6: do the job. We don't have enough people that want
Speaker 6: the job.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know. I mean, I think that would
Speaker 2: be a job that if you have an interest, I mean,
Speaker 2: you have to have an interest in an issue, and
Speaker 2: if you have an interest in airplane safety and all
Speaker 2: of that, And I think there are a lot of
Speaker 2: people and like the idea of being in control. I
Speaker 2: think that you can do psychological analysis on people. You
Speaker 2: need to have people who cool, calm and collected. We
Speaker 2: used to have a director at WBZ. When I worked
Speaker 2: in TV many years ago, I always said he sounded
Speaker 2: like an air traffic controller because no matter whatever was
Speaker 2: going on, Steve never lost his composure. And if all
Speaker 2: of a sudden a couple of live shots went down,
Speaker 2: when most people in the control would be screaming brack
Speaker 2: and forth, Steve and saying, Okay, let's just calm down here,
Speaker 2: we're going to kill that live shot. Let's go Let's
Speaker 2: go to the anchor. Okay, anchor, fine, let's go back
Speaker 2: to whether. I mean he just controlled that he was.
Speaker 2: He was a magnificent director.
Speaker 6: And I just think disability doesn't mean depending on the
Speaker 6: disability doesn't mean that you don't have a calm demeanor.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I'm agreeing with I'm totally agreeing with you. I'm
Speaker 2: totally agreeing with you. Could be you could be confined
Speaker 2: to a wheelchair and you have a disability theoretically, but
Speaker 2: your mental acuity, uh, and your demeanor and your interest
Speaker 2: in the issue. You want people who are qualified, and
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter what color they are, and it doesn't
Speaker 2: matter how tall they are, how short they are, how
Speaker 2: handsome they are, or how beautiful they are. You want
Speaker 2: people who can keep their heads, you know, when when
Speaker 2: others are losing their.
Speaker 6: Wits, and there's training you can do, their simulations you
Speaker 6: can do to find out who would be good in
Speaker 6: the job or not so related to my their issue.
Speaker 6: And I know a lot of people want to call tonight.
Speaker 6: One night you were on or you're always on, but
Speaker 6: you're talking to somebody and you said, I don't know
Speaker 6: what a chief people in culture person really does. I
Speaker 6: don't know what this job title and it may not
Speaker 6: have been that exact job title, but the chief people officer,
Speaker 6: the chief, it's the new title for strategic planning of
Speaker 6: your workforce. And they're the ones that have probably been saying,
Speaker 6: don't have people in the pipeline.
Speaker 2: You look at what I wish I could recall. I
Speaker 2: get bossed with you. I wish I could recall the
Speaker 2: comment that you're attributing to me when you say chiefs
Speaker 2: like like Kansas City chief, h I E F.
Speaker 6: S YEP, chief people officer, chief strategic or strategic people
Speaker 6: or strategic human resource person. It's like a business strategy
Speaker 6: per it may have been people's strategy.
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know. To be honest with you,
Speaker 2: I can't artist to god cod recall it. I think
Speaker 2: that there's a lot of people who work in companies,
Speaker 2: who get settled into companies. I'm looking for people who
Speaker 2: are productive, that's all. Whether you're working as a steel worker,
Speaker 2: you're working in a sawmill, a doctor's office, an er,
Speaker 2: you need people who are smart and who can accomplish
Speaker 2: the job, and who also have a passion about the job.
Speaker 2: That's all. You want somebody, whether it's somebody playing for
Speaker 2: the Patriots or somebody work in an emergency room, you
Speaker 2: want someone who really is into the job. That's what
Speaker 2: I want. And wherever I go, if I go to
Speaker 2: the store and someone's a store clerk, I want someone
Speaker 2: who's friendly and appreciates you as a customer. That's all
Speaker 2: I mean. You know, we're so lucky in this country,
Speaker 2: and let's let's let's be happier, let's be more upbeat.
Speaker 2: I try to be. I hope others will join me
Speaker 2: in that feeling. How much would those folks who last
Speaker 2: night hopefully went to a better place, how much you
Speaker 2: think they would give to be back with their families tonight,
Speaker 2: safe and safe and sound. They'd give everything, you know,
Speaker 2: And I just think we take a lot for granted.
Speaker 2: In this country, we take a lot for granted. Every
Speaker 2: day we wake up, every day's a gift. Make the
Speaker 2: most of it. Mel I loved you. Call Call more often,
Speaker 2: will you?
Speaker 6: Thanks?
Speaker 2: Dan, Thanks talking to you. Soon here comes to ten
Speaker 2: o'clock news. Stay in the line. If not, fill it
Speaker 2: up six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six
Speaker 2: one seven, nine three, ten thirty. Going to start it
Speaker 2: off when we get back with Chuck in Georgia and
Speaker 2: Steven Bridgewater. Got some room for you.