The US Army has identified the third pilot of the Black Hawk Helicopter that collided with an American Airlines jet as Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, from North Carolina.
In a statement, her family said: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives. She was kind, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong. No one dreamed bigger or worked harder to achieve her goals.”
The Army’s helicopter was performing “doomsday” training when it collided with the jet above Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, according to a new report.
The helicopter was flying a route that’s part of a military plan to evacuate senior government officials to safety if the U.S. is attacked, Reuters reports. The military mission is known as "continuity of government" and "continuity of operations.”
Meanwhile, three black boxes — one from the Black Hawk helicopter and two from the American Airlines jet — have been recovered from the wreckage in Washington D.C.’s Potomac River, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
At least 41 bodies have been recovered so far, officials said. All 67 people involved in the mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are presumed dead.
All three service members onboard the helicopter have now been named by the Army.
Key Points
- Black Hawk helicopter performing 'doomsday' training at time of collision
- Third helicopter pilot names as Capt Rebecca M. Lobach
- Data from all three aircraft 'black boxes' being extracted
- Bodies of two soldiers recovered from Black Hawk wreckage
- Helicopter's black box recovered, investigators now downloading its data
- Air traffic controller 'left shift early' leaving another to 'work two jobs'
Third helicopter pilot names as Capt Rebecca M. Lobach
12:40
,
Holly Evans
The US Army has identified the third pilot of the Black Hawk Helicopter that collided with an American Airlines jet as Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, from North Carolina.
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.
In a statement, her family said: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives. She was kind, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong. No one dreamed bigger or worked harder to achieve her goals.”
NTSB starts Saturday DC conference with remarks on Philadelphia crash
12:00
,
Mike Bedigan
NTSB spokesman Todd Ilman kicked off Saturday evening’s DCA press conference by acknowledging the shocking crash that happened in Philadelphia on Friday night.
“Tonight, we also need to give the condolences to yet another set of individuals due to the Philadelphia crash. Our hearts go out to all of them,” he said.
“Nobody should suffer this much tragedy no matter what time frame in between it.
“Know this, we will find out what happened in both of those accidents. We'll make recommendations, we will attempt to never have to deal with those type of accidents again.”
Flight simulator recreates final moments of Washington DC aircraft crash
11:00
,
Mike Bedigan
Conflicting information from plane's black boxes
10:06
,
Holly Evans
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have determined the CRJ700 airplane was at 325 feet (91 meters), plus or minus 25 feet, at the time of impact, officials said at a Saturday evening news briefing.
The information was based on data recovered from the jet's flight data recorder - the "black box" that tracks the aircraft's movements, speed and other parameters.
The new detail suggests the Army helicopter was flying above 200 feet (61 meters), the maximum altitude for the route it was using.
Preliminary data indicates the control tower's radar showed the helicopter at 200 feet at the time of the accident, though officials said the information has not been confirmed.
"That's what our job is, to figure that out," NTSB board member Todd Inman told reporters when asked what could explain the discrepancy.
Investigators hopeful of answers after Army helicopter’s ‘black box’ found following deadly DC collision
10:00
,
Mike Bedigan
The so-called “black box” from the Black Hawk helicopter, which collided with a passenger jet in Washington, D.C., has now been recovered, according to the National Transport Safety Board.
Both boxes from the American Airlines aircraft were previously found, and all three devices will now be taken for analysis, NTSB member Todd Inman said Friday, adding that the agency had a “high level of confidence” that information could be extracted from them.
Read more here:
King Charles pays tribute to victims of Washington DC crash
09:23
,
Holly Evans
The King has said he is “profoundly shocked and saddened” after an army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a commercial plane in Washington DC, killing 67 people.
“Our hearts, and our special thoughts, are with the people of the United States and our deepest sympathy goes to the families and loved ones of all the victims,” Charles said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace on Saturday.
“I would also like to pay a particular tribute to the emergency responders who acted so quickly to this horrendous event.”
The King’s message following the air accident in Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/UaPvGiIA6b
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 1, 2025
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy gives update
09:00
,
Mike Bedigan
My update on the crashes near Reagan National Airport and in Philadelphia: pic.twitter.com/WZgDtcuHJ4
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) February 1, 2025
In pictures: NTSB workers open aircraft black boxes
08:00
,
Mike Bedigan
Key pilot messaging system suffering outage as issues continue for FAA
07:34
,
Holly Evans
A key US pilot messaging system was experiencing a temporary outage, which could lead to flight delays on Sunday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said late on Saturday.
The Federal Aviation Administration is working to restore the "Notice to Air Mission" or NOTAM system, Duffy said on X.
"There is currently no impact to the National Airspace System because a backup system is in place," Duffy said. "FAA has set up a hotline to communicate with aviation stakeholders and will send notices every 30 minutes with updates on the system's status."
Duffy said the FAA "activated its contingency system to supplement and support preflight briefings and continue flight operations... We are investigating the root cause and we will provide updates."
He said passengers should check with their carriers about the status of flights on Sunday, adding "there may be some residual delays tomorrow morning."
Donald Trump suggests DEI could be behind DEI crash
07:00
,
Mike Bedigan
President Donald Trump previously claimed that DEI “could have been” to blame for the fatal collision.
Trump suggested that the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity efforts have made air travel less safe.
"The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency's website," Trump said at a briefing on Thursday.
Trump was then asked by a reporter: “Are you saying this crash was somehow caused and the result of diversity hiring and what evidence have you seen to support these claims?”
The president replied: “It just could have been.”
Data from all three aircraft 'black boxes' being extracted
06:00
,
Mike Bedigan
Three black boxes — one from the Black Hawk helicopter and two from the American Airlines jet — have been recovered from the wreckage in Washington D.C.’s Potomac River, and are now being analyzed in labs.
The helicopter’s box was recovered Friday after investigators previously recovered two black boxes from the jet.
“We have a high level of confidence that we will be able to have a full extraction,” NTSB member Todd Inman said.
A passenger jet had to abort a landing at Reagan National Airport just 24 hours before fatal crash due to a helicopter
05:01
,
Mike Bedigan
A passenger jet had to suddenly abort its landing at Reagan National Airport because of a helicopter in its flight path, just a day before an airliner and a military helicopter catastrophically collided in the same airspace, highlighting the complications of managing helicopter traffic around the busy Washington-area airport.
Josh Marcus has more:
Who were the soldiers on board the Black Hawk helicopter?
04:15
,
Mike Bedigan
The Army has now identified all three soldiers who were on board the downed Black Hawk helicopter.
The crew chief of the helicopter was identified as Ryan O’Hara, who leaves behind a wife and 1-year-old son.
Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, and Captain Rebecca Lobach, 28, of Durham, North Carolina, were also on the aircraft.
Lobach was a distinguished military graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and commissioned in 2019 as an active-duty aviation officer.
Recap: What we know so far about the mid-air collision near D.C.'s Reagan Airport
03:30
,
Mike Bedigan
Investigations are continuing, three days after the deadly mid-air collision near to Washington D.C.’s Ronald Reagan airport.
A total of 67 people were killed after a passenger jet collided with a Black Hawk military helicopter.
As more and more details emerge, here’s what we know so far:
Black Hawk helicopter performing 'doomsday' training at time of collision
03:00
,
Mike Bedigan
The Army’s Black Hawk helicopter was performing a “doomsday” training when it collided with an American Airlines jet above Washington, D.C. near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday.
The helicopter was flying a route that’s part of a military plan to evacuate senior government officials to safety if the country is attacked, Reuters reports. The military mission is known as "continuity of government" and "continuity of operations,” according to Reuters.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week that the helicopter and its crew were performing “a routine, annual re-training of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission."
Watch: Trans pilot speaks out after being falsely smeared in DC crash
02:15
,
Mike Bedigan
Recap: Who were the victims of the Washington D.C. mid-air crash?
01:30
,
Mike Bedigan
A civil rights attorney and former Beauty pageant winner is among those killed in the horror crash between a passenger plane and Army helicopter in Washington, D.C.
Teenage ice skating stars, their parents, and a soon-to-be-married pilot are some of the other souls lost in the January 29 tragedy.
Here’s what we know about the victims:
Loved ones of DCA victims worried Philadelphia crash will delay answers
00:45
,
Mike Bedigan
Todd Ilman said that the families of the victims of the DCA crash were concerned that the shocking incident in Philadelphia, in which an air ambulance came down in a residential area, would delay the NTSB’s investigation.
Asked about the families on Saturday, Ilman said: “I spent several hours with them today.
“There's more, some new there's some that have been there for three days, some that want to give us hugs. Some that are just mad and angry. They're just all hurt, and they still want answers, and we want to give them answers.
He added: “The most devastating thing, I guess, today was, they watched the news last night.
“They know their loved ones. They're thinking, is it going to take longer? Am I going to be able to find my loved one? How will this affect it? I mean, it's horrible, and no one ever should suffer this. So, yeah, it is hard on them. They have a lot of questions.”
Five people were working in the tower at the time of the accident
00:00
,
Mike Bedigan
NTSB spokesperson Todd Ilman confirmed that five people had been working in the air traffic control tower at the time of the accident and that interviews with them would be completed by Monday.
“This is a controller’s worst nightmare. It hits everyone that works in that cab and knows them very hard,” he said.
“These interviews take a long time, not because there's that much talking, but there's several breaks that occur for emotions, just to be able to compose themselves, to talk about what happened.
“We want to be thorough. If we need to go back for additional information, we absolutely will. We're getting full cooperation and access to those individuals we need, and we hope, again, to have them completed, no later than Monday.
Third crew member of Black Hawk helicopter identified
Saturday 1 February 2025 23:40
,
Mike Bedigan
The Army has released the name of the third crew member of the Black Hawk helicopter.
Captain Rebecca Lobach, 28 was from Durham, North Carolina.
She was a distinguished military graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and commissioned in 2019 as an active-duty aviation officer.
Night vision goggles were being 'utilized' during Black Hawk crew before crash
Saturday 1 February 2025 23:30
,
Mike Bedigan
Ilman confirmed that the Black Hawk was on a “training mission” and that night vision goggles were being used.
“We can verify it was on a training flight that would utilize night vision goggles,” he said. “We do not know at this time if the night vision goggles were actively being worn, nor what the setting may be.
“Further investigation should be able to let us know if that occurred and what factor it may play in the overall accident.”
NTSB starts DC conference with remarks on Philadelphia crash
Saturday 1 February 2025 23:15
,
Mike Bedigan
NTSB spokesman Todd Ilman kicked off Saturday evening’s DCA press conference by acknowledging the shocking crash that happened in Philadelphia on Friday night.
“Tonight, we also need to give the condolences to yet another set of individuals due to the Philadelphia crash. Our hearts go out to all of them,” he said.
“Nobody should suffer this much tragedy no matter what time frame in between it.
“Know this, we will find out what happened in both of those accidents. We'll make recommendations, we will attempt to never have to deal with those type of accidents again.”
Footage captures moment of Washington DC plane crash
Saturday 1 February 2025 23:02
,
Mike Bedigan
Black Hawk helicopter performing 'doomsday' training at time of collision
Saturday 1 February 2025 22:29
,
Katie Hawkinson
The Army’s Black Hawk helicopter was performing a “doomsday” training when it collided with an American Airlines jet above Washington, D.C. near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday.
The helicopter was flying a route that’s part of a military plan to evacuate senior government officials to safety if the country is attacked, Reuters reports. The military mission is known as "continuity of government" and "continuity of operations,” according to Reuters.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this week that the helicopter and its crew were performing “a routine, annual re-training of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission."
Trump won't visit Washington DC plane crash site because it's 'the water': 'You want me to go swimming?’
Saturday 1 February 2025 21:52
,
Mike Bedigan
Donald Trump responded sarcastically to questions about whether he would be visiting the site of the deadly crash over the Potomac River in Washington D.C., asking reporters at the White House: “You want me to go swimming?”
Read more:
Mapped: How American Airlines plane collided with Black Hawk army helicopter near Washington DC airport
Saturday 1 February 2025 20:31
,
Katie Hawkinson
See the mapped paths of the American Airlines jet and Black Hawk helicopter as the collided over Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night.
From The Independent’s Madeline Sherratt and Rhian Lubin:
Who was flying the American Airlines plane and Black Hawk helicopter before Washington DC crash?
Saturday 1 February 2025 19:27
,
Madeline Sherratt
Dozens of bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River after an American Airlines jet collided with a U.S. Army helicopter, claiming the lives of 67 people.
Authorities are going through the gruesome process of identifying the victims found so far, as families of people on board are forced to wait to have their worst fears confirmed.
Among those who have been identified are the personnel flying the two aircraft. The American Airlines crew included Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Sam Lilley, 28. The Blackhawk crew included Staff Sgt. Ryan O’Hara and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves.
Keep reading:
GoFundMe appeals raise half a million dollars in under 24 hours for DC plane crash victims' families
Saturday 1 February 2025 18:00
,
Madeline Sherratt
A GoFundMe hub, created to support the families of those who died in the DC plane crash, has raised almost half a million dollars.
The page collates separate appeals for plane crash victims, and so far includes Casey Crafton, Wendy Jo Shaffer, Mikey Stovall, Justyna Beyer, and her daughter Brielle. Between them, the appeals have raised $498,231 in just 14 hours.
Continue reading:
A passenger jet had to abort a landing at Reagan National Airport just 24 hours before fatal crash due to a helicopter
Saturday 1 February 2025 17:30
,
Josh Marcus
A passenger jet had to suddenly abort its landing at Reagan National Airport because of a helicopter in its flight path, just a day before an airliner and a military helicopter catastrophically collided in the same airspace, highlighting the complications of managing helicopter traffic around the busy Washington-area airport.
Read more:
Investigators hopeful of answers after Army helicopter’s ‘black box’ found following deadly DC collision
Saturday 1 February 2025 16:30
,
Mike Bedigan
The so-called “black box” from the Black Hawk helicopter, which collided with a passenger jet in Washington, D.C., has now been recovered, according to the National Transport Safety Board.
Both boxes from the American Airlines aircraft were previously found, and all three devices will now be taken for analysis, NTSB member Todd Inman said Friday, adding that the agency had a “high level of confidence” that information could be extracted from them.
It is hoped that the boxes will provide valuable insight into the final moments leading up to the deadly crash on Wednesday at D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Airport which killed 67 people.
Read more:
Who are the victims of the deadly D.C. plane crash?
Saturday 1 February 2025 15:30
,
Rhian Lubin, Tara Cobham, Alex Croft
A civil rights attorney and former Beauty pageant winner is among those killed in the horror crash between a passenger plane and Army helicopter in Washington, D.C.
Teenage ice skating stars, their parents, and a soon-to-be-married pilot are some of the other souls lost in the January 29 tragedy.
Read the full story:
FAA restricts helicopter activity near Reagan Airport
Saturday 1 February 2025 14:54
,
Katie Hawkinson
The Federal Aviation Administration has restricted helicopter activity around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“Today’s decision will immediately help secure the airspace near Reagan Airport, ensuring the safety of airplane and helicopter traffic,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday.
Bodies of two soldiers recovered from Black Hawk wreckage
Saturday 1 February 2025 14:34
,
Katie Hawkinson
The bodies of two soldiers have been recovered from the wreckage of the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines jet Wednesday night, CBS News reports.
The bodies, which investigators identified as a man and a woman, were recovered yesterday, the outlet reports.
Three people were on board the helicopter when it crashed. Two of them have been identified: Staff Sgt. Ryan O’Hara and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves. Army officials have declined to release the third person’s identity.
The bodies recovered yesterday are believed to belong to Eaves and the third person on board, as O’Hara’s body was recovered earlier in the week, according to CBS.
Read more about O’Hara, Eaves and the two pilots on board the American Airlines jet:
Investigators downloading data from all three black boxes
Saturday 1 February 2025 14:17
,
Katie Hawkinson
Investigators are working this weekend to download data from the three black boxes recovered from the crash’s wreckage.
Recovery crews found one black box for the Black Hawk helicopter Friday, while the other two belonged to the American Airlines jet.
Investigators expect a “full download” from the jet’s flight data recorder as well, National Transportation Safety Board board member Todd Inman said.
All 67 people on both aircraft are presumed dead after the helicopter and jet collided over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night.
Recovery crews have found at least 41 bodies as of Saturday morning.
Black Hawk helicopter was on a 'continuity of government' training flight
Saturday 1 February 2025 14:02
,
Holly Evans
The Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet in Washington on Wednesday was on a training flight along a route core to a seldom-discussed military mission to evacuate senior officials to safety in the event of an attack on the U.S., officials say.
The military mission, known as "continuity of government" and "continuity of operations," is meant to preserve the ability of the U.S. government to operate.
Most days, crews like the one killed on Wednesday transport VIPs around Washington, which is buzzing with helicopter traffic.
But U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed the Black Hawk crew's ties to the mission during a White House press conference on Thursday, saying they "were on a routine, annual re-training of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission."
Still, little of such missions is publicly discussed.
The three soldiers killed in the collision were part of the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, whose responsibilities in a national crisis include evacuating Pentagon officials. Another 64 people were killed in the passenger plane.
Is flying really safer than driving? What the stats show after devastating Washington D.C. plane crash
Saturday 1 February 2025 13:01
,
Holly Evans
After 67 people were killed in a horror crash between a passenger jet and an army helicopter in Washington D.C., thoughts naturally turn to air safety.
Recovery efforts are ongoing for dozens of bodies in the Potomac River, where the remnants of the American Airlines flight and the US army Black Hawk helicopter lie after the January 29 disaster.
Officials in the US have sought to reassure citizens that flying is safe. Transport secretary Sean Duffy insisted that passengers should be “assured” that flying is a safe mode of transport in a press conference on Thursday morning.
Read the full article here:
Who was flying the American Airlines plane and Black Hawk helicopter before Washington DC crash?
Saturday 1 February 2025 12:11
,
Holly Evans
Who is Jo Ellis, the transgender pilot wrongly named in DC crash?
Saturday 1 February 2025 12:00
,
Holly Evans
Jo Ellis's record of service in the Virginia National Guard appears to be nothing but honorable.
She served in Iraq as a helicopter door gunner, then in Kuwait as part of the multi-national fight against the Islamic State. And in 2023, with the support of her commanders, she began medically transitioning to female.
Now her face and name are being paraded across the internet by conservative influencers and fringe media outlets who falsely claim that she had been piloting the U.S. Army chopper that collided with a passenger jet on Wednesday night in a crash that killed 67 people.
Read the full article here:
Issue around shortage of tower controllers highlighted by crash
Saturday 1 February 2025 11:00
,
Holly Evans
The crash has shone a spotlight on concerns about air safety and a shortage of tower controllers at the heavily congested airport that serves the U.S. capital.
The FAA is about 3,000 controllers behind staffing targets. The agency said in 2023 that it had 10,700 certified controllers, about the same as a year earlier.
One controller rather than two was handling local plane and helicopter traffic on Wednesday at the airport, a situation deemed "not normal" but considered adequate for lower volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter. Duffy on Thursday vowed to reform the FAA.
Airspace is crowded around the Washington area, home to three commercial airports, multiple military bases and some senior government officials who are ferried around by helicopter.
Over a three-year period ending in 2019, there was an average of 80 helicopter flights per day within 30 miles (48 km) of Reagan National Airport, with the majority either military or law enforcement flights, according to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report.
Philadelphia plane crash: What we know so far after Learjet crash goes down in huge explosion near mall
Saturday 1 February 2025 10:10
,
Holly Evans
An air ambulance carrying a pediatric patient, their escort and four crew members crashed into a busy residential area of northeast Philadelphia Friday, erupting in a fireball.
The aircraft came down just after 6 p.m. local time near the Roosevelt Mall, damaging several homes and vehicles. Shocking footage showed a large mushroom-shaped fireball shooting into the sky.
City law enforcement quickly declared the crash a “major incident” and urged residents to stay away from the area.
Read the full article here:
Saturday 1 February 2025 10:00
,
Holly Evans
The National Transportation Safety Board have conducted interviews with air traffic controllers, member Todd Inman said, including the lone controller working inside Reagan's tower at the time of the crash on Wednesday.
Authorities have not identified a cause, and Inman said the board would not engage in speculation before completing its investigation.
"The NTSB is an independent, bipartisan board - 58 years as the gold standard. Our job is to find the facts, but more importantly, our job is to make sure this tragedy doesn't happen again, regardless of what anyone may be saying," Inman said, adding that he had not spoken to President Donald Trump or anyone at the White House.
Recap: What we know so far about the mid-air collision near Reagan Airport
Saturday 1 February 2025 02:00
,
Mike Bedigan
All three “black box” devices have been recovered following the midair near Washington, D.C, Wednesday evening, officials have said.
Flight 5342 from Kansas was on the final approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport when it collided with the Black Hawk helicopter before exploding a huge fireball.
There wer
