The U.S. Army on Saturday identified the third soldier who died in the Black Hawk helicopter collision with an American Airlines passenger jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport earlier this week, which killed a total of 67 people.
The soldier was named as Captain Rebecca Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina. She had served as an aviation officer in the regular Army since 2019 and was assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Initially, the Army declined to release Lobach’s name at the request of her family. However, on Saturday, the Army confirmed that her family had agreed to make her identity public.
“She was a bright star in all our lives,” her family said in a statement, adding that she was an advocate for victims of sexual assault and had planned to become a doctor after completing her military service. “No one dreamed bigger or worked harder to achieve her goals.”
Meanwhile, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed that the CRJ700 passenger jet was flying at approximately 325 feet (91 meters), plus or minus 25 feet, at the moment of impact. The data was retrieved from the aircraft’s flight data recorder—the “black box” that logs the plane’s movements, speed, and other flight parameters.
This finding indicates that the Army helicopter was flying above 200 feet (61 meters), which is the maximum altitude for the designated route it was using.
Preliminary radar data from the control tower showed the helicopter at 200 feet at the time of the accident, though officials have not yet confirmed this information.
“That’s what our job is, to figure that out,” NTSB board member Todd Inman said when asked about the discrepancy.
Inman also noted that the helicopter’s training flight would typically involve the use of night-vision goggles. “We do not know at this time if the night-vision goggles were actually being worn, nor what the setting may be,” he said. “Further investigation should be able to let us know if that occurred and what factor it may play in the overall accident.”
According to the NTSB, air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter crew about the presence of the CRJ700 approximately two minutes before the crash.
One second before impact, the American Airlines crew had a “verbal reaction,” as recorded in the cockpit voice recorder. Flight data also showed that the plane’s nose began to rise just before the collision.
An automated radio transmission warning—“traffic, traffic, traffic”—was captured on the voice recorder, followed by the sounds of the crash before the recording ended.
The Army had previously identified the other two soldiers who died in the crash as Staff Sergeant Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39. The names of the 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the jet have not been officially released, though many have been identified by their families and on social media.
Recovery crews are preparing to remove the aircraft wreckage from the Potomac River starting Sunday. So far, 42 bodies have been recovered, according to the Washington, D.C., fire department.
