Originally Posted by ExCrew
Forgot we were on final coming into IAD at that hour and had to to a g/a because of it. Pretty scary. Turns out, the crew didn't even see the helicopter. I noticed it out of my porthole on the galley door. But the heard the alert. Damn hot shot news copter jockeys!
I'm guessing it was Class B in which case the controllers didn't separate the a/c properly or someone wasn't following their clearance and the controller didn't see it. Or it could have been the news helicopter was below the Class B. Just guessing on my behalf. Nonetheless, in visual conditions it is still see-and-avoid. Airplane vs. helicopter means the helicopter has the right of way.
My (former) CFI/CFII told me once he got chewed out on frequency for a similar encounter with a WN jet. He then told the controller he was in visual conditions, in Class E airspace and he was on flight following (radar contact, etc.) so no one did anything wrong at all. See and avoid (plus TCAS).