Black Hawk crew missed warning before deadly crash

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A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) suggests that the Black Hawk helicopter crew involved in last month’s fatal collision with an American Airlines flight may have missed crucial air traffic control instructions.

The January 29, 2025, collision over the Potomac River claimed the lives of all 67 occupants aboard both aircraft. The Black Hawk’s crew consisted of three Army personnel: Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, a pilot from Durham, North Carolina, who was completing her annual night flying evaluation; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, from Brooksville, Mississippi, serving as the evaluator pilot; and Staff Sergeant Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, from Lilburn, Georgia, who was the crew chief.

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Captain Lobach, who had accumulated over 450 flight hours and recently served as a military social aide at the Biden White House, was being evaluated by Eaves, an experienced aviation officer responsible for air traffic control communications. It took three days for the Army and Lobach’s family to remove her social media presence following the incident.

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy indicated that the helicopter crew may have been operating with inaccurate altitude data during the flight. The aircraft was recorded at 278 feet when the collision occurred, exceeding the designated 200-foot ceiling for that airspace. Investigators noted concerning discrepancies in altitude reports, with pilots citing different heights of 300 and 400 feet.

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Critical communications may have been compromised in the moments leading up to the crash. A crucial instruction from air traffic control directing the helicopter to “pass behind” the commercial aircraft, issued 17 seconds before impact, might not have been fully received due to the Black Hawk crew inadvertently transmitting at the same time.

Jennifer Homendy:
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