Captain Rebecca Lobach, Black Hawk ‘female’ pilot ignored key instructions from air traffic control moments prior to American Airlines, D.C crash that led to all 67 people on both crafts killed. Pilot also declined to listen to co-pilot to turn craft moments before crash. Was she the right person for onerous job?
Was she the right person for the job? The pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with the American Airlines passenger airplane leading to 67 killed on both crafts did not comply with air traffic control directions to change course seconds before the fatal incident, a new report has revealed.
On the night of January 29, Army Black Hawk pilot Capt. Rebecca Lobach was conducting an annual flight evaluation with her co-pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, who was serving as her flight instructor. Behind them sat Ryan O’Hara id as Black Hawk helicopter crew chief.
Black Hawk pilot series of errors
Three months on, new details published by The New York Times revealed that the pilot made more than one mistake leading to all 67 individuals on both crafts perishing (64 on board the AA flight and 3 crew in the Black Hawk Helicopter).
Not only was Lobach flying her Black Hawk too high, but in the final moments before the impact, she failed to take advice and instruction from her co-pilot to switch course.
Lobach’s piloting skills were being tested during the evaluation on the fateful night, before the crew were informed that an aircraft was nearby, according to the report.
Just 15 seconds before colliding with the commercial airplane, air traffic control told Lobach and Eaves to turn left, but she did not do so.
Seconds before impact, co-pilot Eaves then turned to Lobach in the cockpit and told her that air traffic control wanted her to turn left. She still did not do so.
Investigators may never know why Lobach did not change course that day.
To continue the thread..🧵on Rebecca Lobach, 500 hours in 5 Years is very LOW..
Don’t take my word for it..Pilot after pilot are sounding the ALARM that her piloting that BLACK HAWK in high traffic is
📌INSANE
📌UNPRECEDENTED
📌SUICIDE
📌DEI pic.twitter.com/L5clZtkePR— Madeleine Case Tweets🌐 (@McCannCaseTweet) February 2, 2025
Was Captain Rebecca Lobach qualified to navigate D.C airport?
Both Lobach and Eaves had first acknowledged the message that an aircraft was nearby, and spotted the plane themselves before requesting to fly by ‘visual separation.’
This is a practice that allows aircraft to avoid collisions based on their own observations instead of following the air traffic controller‘s instructions.
‘The request to fly under those rules is granted routinely in airspace overseen by controllers. Most of the time, visual separation is executed without note.
‘But when mishandled, it can also create a deadly risk — one that aviation experts have warned about for years,’ aviation experts told the outlet.
The report stated: ‘The Black Hawk was 15 seconds away from crossing paths with the jet. Warrant Officer Eaves then turned his attention to Captain Lobach. He told her he believed that air traffic control wanted them to turn left, toward the east river bank.’
If she had turned left, it ‘would have opened up more space between the helicopter and Flight 5342,’ it added.
Instead, 67 people – everyone aboard the plane and helicopter – perished.
Rebecca Lobach, from Durham, North Carolina, was an aviation officer in the Army and had racked up around 500 hours of flying time. She also served as a White House military social aide during the Biden administration according to the dailymail.
Rebecca Lobach the Black Hawk pilot…
WILL BECOME…one of the greatest SCANDALS in American Aviation
📌Her powerful family
📌Her access to Joe Biden administration
📌Her lack of FAA medical certificate
📌Her short amount of flying hours
We’ve only scratched the surface pic.twitter.com/VwBvunBO1R
— Madeleine Case Tweets🌐 (@McCannCaseTweet) February 2, 2025
Critical Federal Aviation Administration rules
A critical rule in the industry is that if two aircraft are on a collision course pilots have to be advised if they are likely to merge, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.
Experts found that did not happen that night and that ‘immediate intervention was needed’ to prevent the horrible tragedy that left 67 dead.
‘Direct, immediate intervention was needed that night. Instead of seeing and avoiding Flight 5342, Captain Lobach continued flying straight at it,’ the nytimes report stated.
Though it remains unclear why Rebecca Lobach defied orders, Aviation experts believe she may have been ‘blindsided’ that the American Airlines flight was ‘circling’ Runway 33 that night.
Investigators now believe the Black Hawk crew did not hear the word ‘circling’ because they might have been pressing the microphone key to talk at the same time the crucial term came through, according to the report.
‘If the key is depressed, the pilot can speak but not hear incoming communications,’ it detailed.
There is also no indication that Lobach suffered a medical emergency at the time of the crash, and didn’t have pre existing health issues, her loved ones and people close to the investigation told the nytimes.
In February it was revealed that the helicopter crew may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the crash, investigators said.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said the recording from the Black Hawk suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left them without understanding how it should shift position to avoid the aircraft.
Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight and that there was nothing to suggest that the crew had removed them.
Just before that discovery, it was revealed that vital tracking technology inside the helicopter was turned off for ‘no compelling reason’ when it collided.
#5 – Trump Targets DEI Hiring Practices at FAA After Deadly Crash in Washington DC
Recently, Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, was identified after delay as one of the pilots involved in the mid-air collision over Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/qEyQw9rIcm
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) February 2, 2025
American Airlines descent into D.C airport
When the chopper went down, the Black Hawk’s Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast was disabled – a system which shares an aircraft’s position, altitude and speed, Sen. Ted Cruz previously told The New York Times.
The technology also includes a display that shows pilots the location of other aircraft both in the sky or on a runway, and allows air traffic controllers to not just rely on radar tracking – which could have a delay of a few seconds.
The American Airlines jet, which was flying from Wichita, Kansas, and preparing to land at the time of the crash, was piloted by 34-year-old Jonathan Campos, whose relatives said had dreamed of flying since he was three.
The passenger plane recorded its altitude at 313 feet two seconds before collision.
A few minutes before the twin-engine jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked if it could use a shorter runway. The pilots agreed, and flight-tracking sites show the plane adjusted its approach.
The jet’s passengers ranged from a group of hunters to students and parents from northern Virginia schools to members of the Skating Club of Boston.
They were returning from a development camp for elite junior skaters that followed the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.
