The U.S. Army has identified the third pilot of the H-60 Black Hawk Helicopter that collided with an American Airline CRJ-700 passenger jet on Wednesday as it was on approach to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing 67 people.
Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, from Durham, North Carolina was one of three soldiers aboard the chopper that crashed into the jet just as it was coming into land.
The Army had initially refused to identify Lobach at the request of her family but the decision to release her name came ‘at the request of and in coordination with the family,’ according to a statement released by the Army.
‘We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives,’ her family said. ‘Rebecca was a warrior and would not hesitate to defend her country in battle.’
Lobach had worked as a White House aide during the Biden administration and had served as an aviation officer in the Army from July 2019 until January 2025.
Her family went on to describe her as ‘kind, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong.’
Lobach had been awarded the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon.
Lobach began her career in the United States Army as a distinguished military graduate in Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she was a distinguished military graduate where she was in the top 20 percent of cadets nationwide, her family explained.
Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, from Durham, North Carolina was one of three soldiers aboard the H-60 Black Hawk Helicopter that collided with an American Airlines jet as it was landing
The Army had initially refused to identify Lobach at the request of her family but the decision to release her name came ‘at the request of and in coordination with the family,’ according to a statement released by the Army.
Lobach achieved the rank of Captain, having twice served as a Platoon Leader and as a Company Executive Officer in the 12th Aviation Battalion, Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
She achieved the rank of Captain, having twice served as a Platoon Leader and as a Company Executive Officer in the 12th Aviation Battalion, Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
With more than 450 hours of flight time, she earned certification as a pilot-in-command after extensive testing by the most senior and experienced pilots in her battalion.
Friends and fellow Army officers who served alongside Lobach told Military.com how she was a skilled, dedicated and patriotic soldier who inspired and lifted up those around her.
First Lt. Samatha Brown attended the University of North Carolina with Lobach and said how right from the start she gave off an air of immense kindness and became firm friends.
On the day of the crash the two had texted as they were planning to take trip together.
‘She wasn’t average; she was so far above average. She was so intelligent, she was so dedicated, she loved her friends and her family so fiercely,’ Brown said to Military.com. ‘She was just outstanding.’
Meanwhile, Second Lt. Lexi Freas, met Lobach through UNC’s alumni network and became inspired to become a Black Hawk pilot in the D.C. Army National Guard after going on a flight with her.
Freas said Lobach ‘changed the trajectory of my career, my life’ after she helped her prepare her application to join the D.C. National Guard.
Rebecca Lobach achieved the rank of Captain, having twice served as a Platoon Leader and as a Company Executive Officer in the 12th Aviation Battalion, Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Captain Bilal Kordab, right, was the Army officer who recruited Lobach into the North Carolina National Guard while she was a student at university
Rebecca Lobach is seen alongside her friend Davis Winkie, right, who said he was ‘heartbroken’ as he paid tribute to Captain Lobach whom he considered a friend after they trained together at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Rebecca Lobach is seen together with Davis Winkie, right, whom she trained with. ‘I wish she weren’t dead. You are so missed, Rebecca. This world won’t be the same without you,’ he wrote
Lobach had worked as a White House aide during the Biden administration and had served as an aviation officer in the Army from July 2019 until January 2025
Freas suggested news of Lobach’s death would be felt personally by the entire Army aviation community.
‘The aviation community, in its whole, is very small. The Army aviation community is even smaller, and the Army aviation community of women is even smaller, and those that are female aviators that also went to UNC is incredibly small,’ Freas said.
‘So to share so many qualities and decisions within our career and life, it hit way closer to home than anything else ever has. It was gut-wrenching to hear.’
White House reporter Davis Winkie said he was ‘heartbroken’ as he paid tribute to Captain Lobach whom he considered a friend after they trained together.
‘Rebecca was brilliant and fearless, a talented pilot… we quickly bonded over being the new kids on the block.
‘On “branch day,” when the cadets got to explore the different Army officer career paths, she and I were walking together through a field where a bunch of helicopters were parked. She was a few feet in front of me when she stopped, turned, and pointed out an MH-6 Little Bird (an incredibly small helicopter!). She shot me a mischievous smile and said something like, “Think we can both fit?”,’ Winkie recounted.
‘My dear readers: I am 6’6”, and Rebecca (a former college basketball player) is at least 5’8”. But I’ll be damned if we didn’t somehow stuff ourselves into that cockpit. My neck hurt, and I don’t think we would’ve been able to fly it very well, but we were both beaming in the selfie she took,’ Winkie wrote.
‘Rebecca played a crucial role in helping me navigate the hardest periods of my personal life. I wish we’d taken a photo together when we had lunch a year ago. I wish I’d remembered to invite her to a party I hosted a week ago. I wish she weren’t dead. You are so missed, Rebecca. This world won’t be the same without you.’
Pilot in charge Chief Warrant Office 2 Andrew Eaves and crew chief Staff Sergeant Ryan O’Hara were both named on Friday as those on board the helicopter.
Eaves’ grieving widow Carrie said: ‘I am sure by now all of you have heard the news of the tragedy that has occurred in DC.
‘My husband was one of the pilots in the Blackhawk. We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve.’
She shared several photos of Eaves, one of which he was in uniform, and asked her friends to share any pictures they may have of him as a tribute to his memory.
Meanwhile, O’Hara, 28, left behind a wife and a one-year-old son, and was remembered fondly by his his school as a beloved member of the rifle team.
His father, Gary, was watching television on the couch at his Midway, Georgia, home on Wednesday night when he saw the breaking news that a commercial plane had collided with a military helicopter.
Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves was one of three soldiers taking part in the fateful training exercise over Washington DC on Wednesday night
‘My husband was one of the pilots in the Blackhawk. We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve,’ Andrew Eaves widow, Carrie, said
Ryan O’Hara from Georgia was on board the doomed helicopter when it plunged into the Potomac River on Wednesday night
He told the Washington Post: ‘I just had a gut feeling when I saw the story breaking.’
About 10am Thursday, two Army officials knocked on his door to deliver the horrific news, his 28-year-old son was among the casualties.
‘As a parent, how do you take the news like this and not be totally broken?’ he asked.
‘His mother and I and his sister are just absolutely devastated to think we were talking to him just yesterday and we’ll never have the opportunity to talk with him again.’
Retired Army chief warrant officer Jonathan Koziol told ABC News that trio were ‘very experienced.’
O’Hara individually had hundreds of hours of flight time logged, while Eaves, the instructor pilot running the training drill, had ‘more than 1,000 hours of flight time.’
Lobach had also logged more than 450 hours, Koziol said.
‘Both pilots had flown this specific route before at night — this wasn’t something new to either one of them,’ he said.
‘These are our top pilots doing this National Capital Region.’
No one survived the Wednesday night’s collision. The remains of 42 people had been pulled from the river by Saturday afternoon, including 38 that had been positively identified, according to Washington emergency officials.
They expect to recover all of the remains, though the wreckage of the plane’s fuselage will probably have to be pulled from the water to get all the bodies, officials said.
On Friday night the helicopter ‘was briefly stabilized with a crane to assist in recovery efforts, however, it has not been removed from the water,’ the Washington Fire and EMS Department said in the Saturday statement.
The collision occurred as an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas carrying 64 passengers was preparing to land just across the Potomac from the nation’s capital, and hit an Army Black Hawk helicopter that flew into the jet’s path.
Army officials have said the helicopter crew was highly experienced, and familiar with the congested skies around the city.
Military aircraft frequently make such flights to practice routes they would use if key government officials need to be evacuated during an attack or major catastrophe.
The two aircraft collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways near the airport before it plunged into the river
Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people
The National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to update reporters on Saturday evening.
Investigators are examining the actions of the military pilot and air traffic control. Full NTSB investigations typically take at least a year, though investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.
President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested the helicopter pilots should have seen where they were going in an extraordinary briefing on what he called 'an excrutiating night in our nation's history'.
Trump said the airliner was 'doing everything right' while the Black Hawk was 'going at an angle that was unbelievably bad'.
Defense Secertary Pete Hegseth added that there was an 'elevation issue' the Army is already looking into.
Other possible factors in the crash, including the helicopter's altitude and whether the crew was using night vision goggles, are still under investigation, Hegseth said.
Black boxes have been recovered from both aircraft.
More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said.
After a rainy Friday, clear skies and warmer temperatures made for better conditions Saturday for workers in the field.
Two Navy salvage barges were also expected to arrive to lift heavy wreckage.
In this image provided by the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB investigators examine cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder in Washington
Emergency vehicles and recovery operations are seen near the mouth of the Anacostia River at the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Saturday
Officials gather at the end of runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter on Saturday
Police and coast guard boats are seen around a wreckage site in the Potomac River as an American Airlines plane passes in the foreground at Ronald Reagan Airport on Saturday
National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman speaks with reporters at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday
'This is heartbreaking work,' Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr. told reporters told reporters Friday. 'It´s been a tough response for a lot of our people.'
On Saturday a trio of longtime friends came to the Potomac shoreline, looking for a way to remember the victims.
The Federal Aviation Administration heavily restricted helicopter traffic around the airport on Friday, hours after President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that the helicopter had been flying higher than allowed.
NTSB member Todd Inman told reporters on Friday that investigators had interviewed at least one air traffic controller who was working when the crash happened. He said interviews were ongoing and that it was unclear how many controllers were on duty at the time.
Investigators will also examine staffing levels, training, hiring and other factors, in addition to looking at controllers' records.
The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Officials say the helicopter's maximum allowed altitude at the time was 200 feet though they have not said whether it had exceeded that limit.
The black box recorder from the helicopter, which contains both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data receiver, was found amidst the wreckage on Friday
Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport also captured the moment the two collided in midair
Officials have confirmed that the three soldiers, who all perished, had been rehearsing a plan that involves the evacuation of the White House
Transgender servicewoman Jo Ellis was falsely named as the co-pilot of the US Army Black Hawk helicopter
But on Friday, one day after he questioned the helicopter pilot's actions and blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety, Trump said the helicopter was 'flying too high.'
'It was far above the 200 foot limit. That's not really too complicated to understand, is it???' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
On Thursday, a transgender Black Hawk pilot was wrongly named as one of the three US Army personnel flying the helicopter that collided with a plane in Washington DC.
Jo Ellis, 34, was misidentified as the female co-pilot of the doomed chopper on Thursday.
A shaken-sounding Ellis picked up the phone when called by DailyMail.com on Friday morning, confirming that she was not killed.
Ellis added: 'I am very much alive,' she said.
She said the false rumors had 'shocked,' her with the Pentagon said to be preparing a statement in a bid to debunk the online lies.
Wednesday's crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since November 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport.
The crash killed all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.
Experts regularly highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace around Reagan National can challenge even the most experiences pilots.