DC Plane Crash: 3rd Black Hawk Crew Member's Name Released By Army

ARLINGTON, VA — The U.S. Army has released the name of the third member of the Black Hawk helicopter crew that crashed into a small passenger plane over the Potomac River on Wednesday, according to reports.

Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, from Durham, N.C., was flying the Black Hawk helicopter that hit American Eagle Flight 5342 near Reagan National Airport, killing 67 people, NBC4 Washington reported. That included the passengers and crew on the airliner and two other soldiers on the helicopter, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, and Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28.

Lobach had served as an Army aviation officer since July 2019, assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and her awards include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon, Task & Purpose, a military news organization, reported.

She had more than 450 hours of flight time, and earned "certification as a pilot-in-command after extensive testing by the most senior and experienced pilots in her battalion," her family said in a statement released by the Army, the Associated Press reported.

Lobach was a distinguished military graduate in ROTC at the University of North Carolina, and was in the top 20 percent of cadets nationwide, the statement said. She had wanted to become a doctor, the AP report said.

"We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca," her family said in a statement. "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."

"We request that you please respect our privacy as we grieve this devastating loss," her family said.

Friends remembered her as passionate about everything she did and always willing to help others.

"She was passionate about leadership, passionate about mentorship, and passionate about being a master of her skill craft," 2nd Lt. Lexi told Task & Purpose. "Everything she did, she put 100 percent of her heart and effort into. No task was too big or too little for her to handle for her soldiers and the people that she mentored and loved."

"She wasn't average; she was so far above average," 1st Lt. Samantha Brown told Military.com. "She was so intelligent, she was so dedicated, she loved her friends and her family so fiercely."

Brown, who attended the University of North Carolina with Lobach and met her in ROTC, said the two had texted earlier in the day about a trip they were planning a month or so away.

Brown told NPR that Lobach would march 12 miles with a 45-pound pack at a pace faster than the standard for infantry soldiers. Lobach hoped to fly her Black Hawk at some point on a combat deployment, Brown said.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sabrina Bell told USA Today she had spoken with Lobach on Wednesday evening and viewed her as a dear friend. Bell was planning a trip to visit Lobach, whom she cherished for her "openness, cultured perspective and, most of all, her deep empathy," before learning less than a day later that her friend had died.

Lobach's name initially was withheld by the Army at the request of her family.

"After privately grieving, the family recognized that waiting to release her name was feeding narratives that distracted from the incredible person and pilot that Rebecca was," a person familiar with the family's decision told Military.com.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump made baseless claims on Thursday morning that somehow diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, practices were connected to the tragedy.

"Not only did she deserve what she achieved, but she was overqualified most of the time for what she was able to accomplish," said Capt. Bilal Kordab, who recruited Lobach to the North Carolina National Guard, told USA Today. "Nothing was just handed to her."

The investigation into the crash was continuing Saturday night. Preliminary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the jet and the helicopter when they collided, investigators said Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

Data from the jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet (99 meters), plus or minus 25 feet (7.6 meters), when the crash happened Wednesday night, National Transportation Safety Board said, the AP reported. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk helicopter at 200 feet (61 meters) at the time.

Investigators hope the 100-foot discrepancy can be reconciled data from the helicopter's black box, which is taking more time to retrieve because it was waterlogged, the AP reported.

On two occasions in the past three years, passenger planes had to take evasive action to avoid helicopters while on approach to Reagan National, CNN reported. In both cases, the pilots were warned to the presence of the other aircraft by the plane’s Traffic Collision Avoidance System.

In a third incident involving two helicopters, an air traffic controller’s report said "there isn’t enough staffing to fill all positions in the tower (cabin)."

Staffing in the air traffic control tower was "not normal" at the time of the midair collision near Washington, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report obtained by the Associated Press. Details on this can be found here.

Previous reporting:

• 2 Army Crew Members ID'ed In DC Plane Crash
• DC Plane Crash: 23 Victims Still Missing, 2 Army Crew Members ID'ed
• Crew Members Killed In DC Plane Crash: What To Know
• DC Plane Crash Victims From MD Receive Help From GoFundMe, MealTrain
• Fairfax Figure Skaters, Families Among Those Killed In DC Plane Crash
• DC Plane Crash Updates: New Details On Crash Timeline, Victims
• Who Was On Flight That Crashed Into Potomac: What We Know So Far

The Associated Press contributed to this report.