Black Hawk pilot did not comply with a direction to change course before collision
Rebecca Lobach. (LinkedIn)
The pilot for the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines flight, on January 29, 2025, did not comply with directions to change course. Captain Rebecca Lobach was conducting an annual flight evaluation. Details of the investigation into the collision showed that Lobach made more than one mistake during the flight. Not long before the impact, her co-pilot advised her to change course.
From Daily Mail:
Three months on, new details published by The New York Times revealed that the pilot made more than one mistake leading to one of the worst catastrophes in aviation history.
Not only was Lobach flying her Black Hawk too high, but in the final moments before the impact, she failed to take advice and instruction from her co-pilot to switch course.
Lobach’s piloting skills were being tested during the evaluation on the fateful night, before the crew were informed that an aircraft was nearby, according to the report.
Just 15 seconds before colliding with the commercial airplane, air traffic control told Lobach and Eaves to turn left, but she did not do so.
Seconds before impact, co-pilot Eaves then turned to Lobach in the cockpit and told her that air traffic control wanted her to turn left. She still did not do so.
Investigators may never know why Lobach did not change course that day.
Both Lobach and Eaves had first acknowledged the message that an aircraft was nearby, and spotted the plane themselves before requesting to fly by ‘visual separation.’
This is a practice that allows aircraft to avoid collisions based on their own observations instead of following the air traffic controller’s instructions.
‘The request to fly under those rules is granted routinely in airspace overseen by controllers. Most of the time, visual separation is executed without note.
‘But when mishandled, it can also create a deadly risk — one that aviation experts have warned about for years,’ aviation experts told the outlet.
The report stated: ‘The Black Hawk was 15 seconds away from crossing paths with the jet. Warrant Officer Eaves then turned his attention to Captain Lobach. He told her he believed that air traffic control wanted them to turn left, toward the east river bank.’
If she had turned left, it ‘would have opened up more space between the helicopter and Flight 5342,’ it added.
Additional Reading:
Richter, E. (2025, April 27). Bombshell new report reveals who made fatal mistake that caused Black Hawk to collide with jet and kill 67. Daily Mail. Link.
Category: Army News, Veterans in the news
DEI kills.
Perhaps you could expound on that? I’m not seeing it.
Where’s the patch for 2nd ID?
Hegseth and Trump saw the patch and it was gone the next day over the zero tolerance for DEI policy.
🤣
You have that one backwards! Prior to the libs involvement, my pantry included a black man, black woman and an Indian maid. It was the libs that eradicated the evidence of their existence.
Yup. Fired all the minorities and kept the Quaker Oats guy.
Don’t forget all those ign’ant “woke”-sters who made mock $20 bills with Harriet Tubman on ’em but used Aunt Jemimah because they didn’t know what she looked like.
Holy shit that’s funny stuff right there!
Leftists aren’t into actual history, just the revised history they’ve been force fed. One example, more among the younger generations are not as concerned about Marxism/socialism/communism as the older generations.
I remember telling leftists of the fact that the Democratic Party was behind anti-Black policies, they accused me of peddling “bad history.”
Cousin T rolled out a new pancake product line with his face on the box/bottle. The way he introduced these products, it sounded like he was daring them to go ahead and try to remove his image from his products:
https://cousints.com/
I see my ARNG :rainbow patch down in the right hand corner 75-77
Also missing is the Big Red One. I can wear two of the above but I don’t think I’ll ever wear anything but that one.
I deployed to Iraq with a brigade from the Big Red One.
I had it 98-2007.
Your image is pretty funny. I had actually heard of one of those before. The “Bloody Bucket” hails back to WWII and the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. They were one of several divisions participating and the moniker came from the Germans’ description of the insignia.
Yes, indeed.
FuzeVT,
The red keystone patch is 28th ID, PAARNG.
I had to enlarge this one to see the comments (old eyes, fuzzy screen)
That’s some funny stuff there – but no way I can share it and keep my image from becoming more tarnished than it is.
We called it, didn’t we.
Absolutely.
The Blackhawk had voice recorders?
They do. But I am curious how this information was made public, given that federal law absolutely prohibits release of CVR transcripts and recordings until the NTSB investigations are concluded, and only then the information is released at a public hearing.
Edited to add, I’m not quite ready to buddy fuck the memory of a fellow Soldier without some actual published evidence.
I’m with you on this one.
This is too close to a ‘confirmation bias’ story where what we expect was the root cause (here: DEI) may or may not have played a role.
Prefer to wait for the NTSB investigation report.
I’d say that the fact she was female doesn’t, by default, mean DEI. What would make it DEI is if she was recruited, retained or promoted despite failures that be the downfall of. . . shall we say. . . the average person. And since we don’t know that, I am with you, we should wait until the investigations are complete.
She could be a complete retard without DEI being involved.
I’ve heard stories from one of my guitar students who was a chopper pilot trainer about having to rebuke higher ranks when he said “I have the controls!” and they wouldn’t release control.
Trainee: “I am a Captain!”
Trainer: “But I am the trainer, and you were going to bury this bird in the ground.”
Hegseth was probably texting about it.
Uh, the original disclosure was by the New Yawk Slimes. They have no shortage of deep state leakers. Although I am surprised it disclosed the incompetence of this 0bamunist/0biden bootlicker as the actual cause of this deadly mid-air collision.
Remember 60 years ago on April 27th 1965, you were on standby for OP Power Pack (D R) and our ship left on the 30th fo D R. You mentioned your standby when I commented on the 55th aniversiry back in 2020.
Happens in the Car too…!!
The Office, Michael drives into a lake:
Wonder if she was given more than the usual number of trys in flight school? I’m sure her training records have already been reviewed. That will be the next bombshell that gets dropped I bet.
Doubt it.
Well, if she blew the guy who signed-off on her eval…
She was pretty good looking….
Too much hair. She couldn’t hear. Sorry for the lives lost.
Last I heard the NYT wasn’t part of the FAA or NTSB. I’m content to wait for the real investigators to complete their job and publish the real conclusions of what happened. It’s real easy to throw shit on a dead person since they can’t defend themselves.
Hear hear.
Trying hard to not be “That Guy”
The New York Times article interviewed subject matter experts who’ve worked positions in the control tower, piloted black hawks, piloted commercial aircraft, as well as folks associated with, or knowledgeable, about FAA and NTSB. The NYT somehow got access to the recordings that occurred inside the black hawk.
This is one of their articles where they actually report the news rather than put their bias into full gear. There were a lot of technical and procedural steps that weren’t followed by the black hawk crew, the control tower, as well as those flying the commercial aircraft.
Further down the article, they explain that no evidence was found that there could’ve been any medical related issues that contributed to the decisions made and actions carried out.
That lends more credence to the piece.
Medical related issues?
Like having the period?
Did the subject matter experts release a memo signed by 80 of them that it had all the hallmarks of a DEI crash? Because then it would be legit.
Did they also note that on a training flight the instructor is the real PIC (pilot in command) not the student? So how is that a DEI or other bias based conclusion to blame the student? The aircraft controllers are also required to maintain control over the aircraft in their area of responsibility to maintain sufficient separation and avoid conflicts before they become near misses or collisions. The warnings and instructions talked about were far too late to avoid a near miss.
They just stuck with what the experts told them, and with what was in the initial report. The article above, that linked to the New York Times, zeroed in on the trainee’s not turning to the left. The New York Times article also mentioned that the pilots used a phrase that means that they would use their own vision of the other aircraft and take action, based on what they see, to avoid the other aircraft. The tower approved their doing this. When the Instructor pilot said that he thought that the tower wanted them to turn left, there was still time to turn left and avoid a collision in what would’ve been a close call.
Sad.
Call me crazy but “I believe they want you to turn left toward the east river bank” should probably have come out as “turn left. NOW.” Followed by “I’ve got the controls” or words to that effect. Not blaming it on DEI but lack of recent experience or loss of situational awareness.
Article I read earlier based on the NYT article states the pilot being recertified was a CAPT (O-3) and the trainer/certifier was a WO2 and apparently prior to and during the flight she made it known explicitly that she outranked him in spite of him being the trainer/certifier, and may even have acted as if the fix was in that she would be re-certified no matter what the WO2 said. The article hypothesized he did not act in a more decisive manner due to belief it could be a career-ending move to overrule a “higher ranking” officer with political connections (having served in Biden’s White House).
LMFAO.
Even assuming she has done such a thing and had served in the Biden Whitehouse (which she absolutely DID NOT)…
https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/white-house-staffer-incorrectly-identified-black-hawk-crewmember-2025-02-07/
….No way a decent IP wouldn’t act more decisively if he believed his life was in danger, nor give two shits if she had tried to threaten him. He would just take the threats to her boss and she would be the one standing on the carpet.
It’s out of my lane, only my opinion, but wouldn’t the IP be the AC commander, regardless of rank? And if there’s a WO out there there that wouldn’t respond to a toothless threat from a CPT with derisive laughter, I’d be surprised. Bigly.
Exactly. I imagine the conversation might go; “ok ma’am, you just do whatever you think your rank will allow.”
Even if it’s stupid…you show ‘em!
Here’s some pics of your laughable Blackhawk pilot serving in Biden’s White House.
https://twitchy.com/brettt/2025/04/28/helicopter-pilot-in-dc-disaster-was-told-to-turn-left-didnt-n2412047
I especially like that one of her wearing the helo helmet where she looks like Rick Moranus in “Space Balls.”
Obviously that is not her in that pic. But fake news Reuters is implying Lobach did not work at the Biden White House. There are numerous photos of her at official events and ceremonies at the White House. They show her wearing the yellow aiguillette of WH military aides.
I’m really curious as to how ANY “journalist” could have that information.
So they die?
I always wanted to see a W2 or higher at the controls. Commissioned officers often had other duties and not as much flight time, in my experience. As to the CPT being a Aide to Biden. She was a Social Aide. I’ve known several way back when. They were bachelors who volunteered to do it on a non-interference basis with their assigned duties. If their day boss released them for work they would change uniforms in the office and go escort/herd DV’s to their seats etc. They did it to see the White House and the DVs.
I’ll throw the BS flag. I’ve been a NATOPS Flight Evaluator in two squadrons, first as an E-5. I gave pretty much the same check ride to everyone regardless of rank, and graded accordingly.
NAVAIR also revamped aircrew coordination training by insulating junior flyers from reprisals for correcting more senior aircrew- anyone onboard can speak freely if safety is an issue. The WO was former Navy and may have received the training.
Concur.
Yep. After Fairchild things really began to change.
Everyone knew that guy shouldn’t have been flying but nobody did anything about it. Fireball a heavy bomber into the dirt right next to a nuclear weapons storage depot and people are going to start paying an obscene amount of attention and change is going to happen. Too much happens in the air, too fast to allow for hot shots and sloppiness.
He spent a lot of time in the Navy before joining the Army. One of his photos shows Navy related rewards on his Army uniform.
Black Hawk instructor pilot Andrew Eaves killed in DC plane crash is identified as his devastated widow pays tribute | Daily Mail Online
Welp, he we go, another example of a supposedly entitled but incompetent wokester girl-boss asserting her girl-power.
How unfortunate for the 66 people she killed.
Having watched the video linked to one of the comments here by a fellow experienced pilot from her unit, I will reserve judgment on her actions until we see the full NTSB report. But it appears she could have inadvertently climbed 75 to 100 feet when she slowed from 100 knots to 80 knots, per what her fellow pilot said in that video. There are apparently many details we still don’t know.
The transmission to the pilots is not private. Anyone can record the conversations, and often the frequencies used are broadcast on public listening channels. Which includes the ability to playback previous transmissions.
Same goes for police frequencies, even when the channels are encrypted. You can purchase the P25 decryptors. P25 is not used for aviation I believe.
I will wait for the official report from NTSB, rather than get my info from a reporters interpretation.
Police and aviation transmissions are subject to various public record acts and may be entered into evidence in court. However; not all police transmissions can be decrypted by the general public even with the right equipment. This is especially true of digital FH transmissions. If the department is using frequency hopping you are going to have to have the key codes or you won’t be able to listen in real time.
One can still subpoena the transcripts and even audio logs though.
Thats true. Also departments can sell their transmissions to public stations for a fee. The P25 system does the channel hoping, can be purchased on Amazon. The codes are not necessarily secret material and can often be found with a little digging.
I have access, but of course part of OPSEC says you may not divulge garnered information through your authorized access.
Aw, you can tell us, we won’t tell anyone, we’re Vets! Honest.
sounded like I know something, i dont. Just quoting regs.
DEI crash is a high probability in my mind, but until proven otherwise, I’m still leaning on that she might have done it due to left-winger libtardisim or Orangeman bad TDS. Going up when someone tells you to go left does not seem like a command that is one that could be confused. I know nothing about being a pilot, but I do believe that she must have had above average intelligence to even be selected to be a pilot and advance to point in her training where she was participating in nighttime flights. Was she under the influence of some substance? If so, I’d have thought someone would have noticed that before they took off. No, me thinks she did this horrible deed on purpose. Just my two cents.
“Was she under the influence of some substance?” No. but she may have been under the influence of confusing her rank with the IP’s authority.
True. Arrogance can be more dangerous than stupidity.
The tree of forbidden knowledge of good and evil was metaphoric of arrogance… Scripture goes at length telling the reader to avoid that path. One of the things communicated with the phrase about coming from dust and returning to dust is that God will bring down the arrogant.
Me thinks all that hair clouded her sights. No service member needs hair two feet long! Gaaaah!
From the available photos of her, it looked like her hair did not interfere with proper headgear wear. I remember seeing a photo of a woman police officer whose hat was above her head, held up above her head by the way she had her hair styled.
Check ‘In case of…survivors…’?
I am still of the mind that “the system” is largely to blame. Training flights should not be allowed anywhere close to flight paths of other, civilian, aircraft, particularly at night with all those background lights confusing everything.
Tim, you could be correct but then too, at least a very large part of this was due to Pilot error regardless of her intention(s). She quite possibly was passed through the system as is typical of anything DEI and just screwed up because she was just not good. There are good and bad doctors out there just like there are good and bad pilots. All of the pitchers in MLB have some level of talent, but some are just way better than others. Maybe she was a just a bad pilot and this was an accidental error. Who knows what was going on in her life, but if this was intentional, you can’t get much eviller.
Quite a few sources have said that multiple transmission were getting ‘stepped on’ by someone trying to speak and keying their mike when someone else was broadcasting. I tend to be a believer in Occam’s Razor, but this still sounds like a cascading series of what should have been minor issues that stacked up to be a giant crash. The civilian flight should have seen the Blackhawk’s lights, the Blackhawk should have seen the airplane, the pilot should have turned left the first time, the tower AND IP should have DAMN well made her aware she needed to turn NOW… None of that entails DEI or a commissioned officer’s attitude. Hell, in DC, she was effectively a PFC with all the brass around.
Maybe someone n flight can answer – I am guessing despite her six years in service she probably only had her wings what, 3-4 years? 500 hours is not a lot of flight experience – but isn’t that determined by higher-ups determining who flies? Not how much she volunteers to fly?
David, I do agree with you, but then too I still think that DEI and arrogance played a part as well.
The problem is that she was flying into a congested TCA where she was not supposed to be flying above 200 feet AGL. That is equivalent to be flying IFR. On ether an IFR flight or flight following you are not allowed to deviate from the prescribed altitude. I have had controllers call me when I deviated from the assigned altitude as little as 100 feet. Supposedly, the WO told her she was over 100 feet too high. She did not descend to 200 feet. Had she done so, she would would have missed the airliner.
“The problem is…”
I agree. That’s why any flight path, particularly a training flight, should be nowhere close to such an airspace. I am no pilot but I don’t think pilots practice stall recoveries at 1,000 ft. And, from what I understand, the civilian pilots would be rather busy at that point and shouldn’t have to watch for other aircraft within a couple of hundred feet of their flight path.
People, even highly trained pilots, are going to make mistakes. They should not be put in a position where such predictable mistakes endanger other without a damn good reason, and practicing “VIP” flights ain’t one in my book.
Especially a DEI pilot who failed four other times? Just from what I read previously.
Off topic, but you see the DEA and other Federal & Local agencies raided an illegal nightclub in Colorado Springs? Drug, Prostitution, Guns and 12 AD service members as patrons and/or as armed security. I saw that Army CID was one of the agencies, so any Barracks Lawyer know what kind of trouble they could ib?
Not Law dog. When you patronize a place, how do you know it’s not licensed?
I’m gonna guess that when the establishment is open at 0345, you can safely assume it’s not licensed. And unless those active-duty service members working there are blind, they were fully aware of what type of establishment it was. My inner barracks lawer says they’re well and truly fooked.
It wasn’t a night club. It was an event center that was being rented out. It was rented for other things like weddings and birthdays. So that would be your first clue. Drugs everywhere would be your second clue.
Be that as it is, a command directed blood draw test might be more revealing. The guys that were “working” there as security will get hemmed up for a at a minimum, working without commanders approval.
I live in a different world. Don’t drink, no drugs, I always assumed people to be honorable in their actions. But it seems that’s not the way the world operates anymore.
It never did. It just wasn’t always so blatant.
I’m with you, Jimbojazz. We’re naive, let’s keep it that way.
I think this detailed interview by C.W. Lemoine of CW3 (Ret) Austin Roth, a former pilot who flew the same routes and aircraft and knew Captain Lobach gives insight on Lobach’s status and abilities.
https://youtu.be/lJmvyEEIkEM?si=JaUVcRGcrU2jg4NI
That was quite excellent, thanks for the link.
Outstanding. Thank you.
Don’t follow ATC in congested airspace:
Yeah. See what you did to innocent people.
Had the instructor pilot touched the controls during the proficiency check ride, she would have failed. And everyone else may have lived.
Failures can be overcome. Dying is forever.
Amen.
Hmm, maybe like some Female Navy pilot who was known for having her scores padded flying into the stern of an Aircraft Carrier one evening? That happened during the “Blowjob Willie” years.
Interesting take on the subject:
https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2025/04/28/nyt-buries-lede-about-female-pilot-in-black-hawk-crash-n2188389
They talk about CWO2 Eaves not acting to take over control or urging more strongly to turn left because of being outranked but… from what I was always told, a Warrant Officer is damn near untouchable, no? If it was a matter of life or death wouldn’t their word be taken over that of an O-3? Curious what you guys with experience think of that remark in the article…?
Folks are parodying this, “We call this mansplaining”: