The female pilot of a Black Hawk helicopter involved in a fatal collision with a passenger plane over Washington DC ignored instructions to alter her course moments before the crash.
Captain Rachel Lobach was taking part in an annual flight evaluation with an instructor when her helicopter slammed into a passenger plane, killing 67 people in total, including herself, her co-pilot and a third person aboard the Black Hawk.
A report published by The New York Times details the avoidable mistakes that led to the tragedy.
“When air traffic controllers informed the Black Hawk that there was an airliner nearby, Lobach and Eaves acknowledged the message and requested to fly by “visual separation,” a common practice that allows aircraft to avoid collisions based on their own observations rather than following instructions from air traffic control,” the report states.
“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 the helicopter had turned left, this would have opened up more space between it and Flight 5342, which was descending towards Runway 33 at Reagan National Airport, at an altitude of about 300 feet.
Captain Lobach had served as an aviation officer in the army since July 2019 and had notched up around 500 hours of flying time in a Black Hawk.
During the Biden administration, she served as a White House military social aide.
President Trump and other members of his administration were subject to intense criticism from the media and politicians after suggesting diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI) policies might have been to blame for the tragedy.
In his first remarks on the crash, on his social-media platform Truth Social, President Trump wrote, “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn.”
Later, at a press conference, when President Trump was questioned about why he believed DEI could be to blame, he told reporters, “Because I have common sense.”
President Trump pointed to hiring guidance for the Federal Aviation Authority which included positive preference for those with disabilities including “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”
Disability-rights groups including the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) issued a joint statement calling Trump’s comments “irresponsible, disparaging, and wrong.”
“The president is deliberately spreading falsehoods to demonize the quarter of American adults who live with disabilities rather than directing federal resources towards ensuring such a devastating tragedy never happens again,” the statement read.