The US Military on Saturday (Feb 1) launched the identify of the third soldier who died on a Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines passenger jet close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport this week, killing 67 individuals in all.
The soldier was recognized as Captain Rebecca Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina. She was an aviation officer within the common Military since 2019 and assigned to the twelfth Aviation Battalion, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The Military had initially declined to establish Lobach, an uncommon choice that the company mentioned was made on the request of the household.
However on Saturday the Military mentioned in a press release that Lobach’s household had agreed to launch her identify to the general public.
“She was a vivid star in all our lives,” her household mentioned in a press release, noting that she labored as an advocate for victims of sexual assault and deliberate to develop into a health care provider after her army service. “Nobody dreamed larger or labored tougher to realize her objectives.”
In the meantime, investigators from the Nationwide Transportation Security Board have decided the CRJ700 airplane was at 325 toes (91m), plus or minus 25 toes, on the time of influence, officers mentioned at a Saturday night information briefing.
The knowledge was based mostly on knowledge recovered from the jet’s flight knowledge recorder – the “black field” that tracks the plane’s actions, pace and different parameters.
The brand new element suggests the Military helicopter was flying above 200 toes (61m), the utmost altitude for the route it was utilizing.
Preliminary knowledge signifies the management tower’s radar confirmed the helicopter at 200 toes on the time of the accident, although officers mentioned the data has not been confirmed.
“That is what our job is, to determine that out,” NTSB board member Todd Inman instructed reporters when requested what might clarify the discrepancy.
Inman additionally mentioned at Saturday’s briefing that the helicopter’s coaching flight would sometimes embrace using night-vision goggles.
“We have no idea at the moment if the night-vision goggles have been really being worn, nor what the setting could also be,” he mentioned. “Additional investigation ought to have the ability to tell us if that occurred and what issue it might play within the general accident.”
Information confirms that the air site visitors controller alerted the helicopter to the presence of the CRJ700 about two minutes earlier than the crash.
One second earlier than influence, the crew aboard the American flight had a “verbal response”, in line with the airplane’s cockpit voice recorder, and flight knowledge reveals the airplane’s nostril started to rise, officers mentioned.
The official mentioned an automatic radio transmission alert “site visitors, site visitors, site visitors” was heard on the voice recorder after which sounds of the collision have been heard earlier than the recording ends.
The Military beforehand recognized the opposite two troopers killed in Wednesday’s crash as Employees Sergeant Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39.
The names of the 60 passengers and 4 crew members who died on the jet haven’t been formally launched, though many have been recognized by household and social media.
Crews are making ready to take away the wreckage of the plane from the Potomac River beginning on Sunday.
Forty-two our bodies have been recovered to date, the Washington DC hearth division mentioned on Saturday.
