The US Army on Saturday identified Captain Rebecca M Lobach, 28, of Durham, North Carolina, as the second soldier who died when an Army Black Hawk aircraft collided with an American Airlines flight near Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, on Wednesday nights.
Lobach, a distinguished military graduate who has been serving in the Army aircraft force since 2019, graduated from the University of North Carolina’s ROTC system and placed among the top 20 % of recruits nationwide, according to her family, according to a statement released by the Army.
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After thorough testing by top pilots in her regiment, she was certified as a pilot-in-command and had logged more than 450 trip hours.
Her family described her as “kind, good, brilliant, funny, optimistic, and strong”, adding that she also served as a licensed sexual abuse and assault response recommend. After her defense assistance, she wanted to become a doctor. According to AP, the family’s speech read,” We request that you please respect our privacy as we grieve this disastrous lost.”
The Army had withheld Lobach’s title at the mother’s ask, while the identities of the two different soldiers—staff sergeant Ryan AustinO’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, and main permit official 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland—were released on Friday.
The cause of the incident remains under inspection by the National transportation safety board (NTSB), with officials focusing on several factors, including air traffic control procedures, the pilot’s level and the jet’s last approach.
No evidence has emerged that suggests such initiatives played a role in the crash, but US President Donald Trump has publicly attributed the incident to the Federal Aviation Administration’s ( FAA ) diversity hiring policies.
The 67 victims of the collision included a diverse group of passengers.
Many were returning from a US Figure Skating development camp, including young skaters and their families, according to the New York Times. Among the participants were Moody’s analysts Chris Collins and Melissa Nicandri, as well as civil rights lawyer Kiah Duggins, engineering student Grace Maxwell, and other professionals.
The deceased included a group of duck-hunting friends and a member of the Philippine National Police Force.
The American Airlines crew, consisting of pilot Jonathan J. Campos, co-pilot Sam Lilley, and flight attendant Danasia Brown Elder, also perished in the crash.
Air traffic control staffing under scrutiny
A Reagan National air traffic control staffing was” not normal” at the time of the crash, according to an internal FAA safety report, according to the news agency AFP. A single controller was in charge of both helicopter traffic and planes coming and going, a task that was typically shared between two controllers.
NTSB officials have urged caution against speculation and stressed that the investigation is ongoing. Within 30 days, a preliminary report is anticipated, but a comprehensive investigation could take a year to complete.
