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WHOA. At least three passenger jets appear to have had rejected landings/go-rounds in ~30 minutes while that UFC light show was going a mile away. @aaronparnas.bsky.social previously reported a commercial pilot filed an FAA safety report about being “nearly blinded” by a test run of the lights.

From the ATC recording, it sounds like the third one, SWA1295, may have been due to a helicopter either in or close to their lane. There is no helicopter in the flight data, so they either misunderstood what they were seeing or there was a military helicopter flying without a signal.

Obviously scary echoes possible there… Also, less than a week ago, at least nine planes had to go into extended holding patterns bc of Trump’s visit to the Knicks game via JFK. (Not dangerous, just annoying and disrespectful.) bsky.app/profile/gill...

Here's a clip of the ATC recording. They're saying something about a helicopter, but I'm not sure what. And then the SWA pilot says they're too high and they're doing a go-round. They were about 1,500 feet. Any pilots care to weigh in? The AA flight got down to 500 feet, DAL 2,300 feet.

And I should say, there was a Park Police helicopter circling the White House the whole time this was happening, but it didn't go near the helicopter lane on the Potomac, so I don't think it was the one they were referring to? But I could be wrong!