Aviation
Blackhawk Pilot Ignored Command Moments Before Deadly DC Collision, Report Finds
A newly released investigation has revealed that the Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot involved in the deadly January 29 crash near Washington, D.C., failed to heed her flight instructor’s order just 15 seconds before colliding with a commercial jet, killing 67 people. The tragic incident, which occurred near Reagan National Airport, is now being described as a fatal chain of human errors compounded by risky procedures and communication failures. According to the New York Times, Capt. Rebecca Lobach was on a training mission when she missed a critical instruction from her co-pilot and flight instructor, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, to alter course and avoid an American Airlines flight that was descending onto the same runway. The crash occurred at 8:47:59 p.m., when the Blackhawk helicopter struck American Airlines Flight 5342—a CRJ aircraft inbound from Wichita, Kansas—sending both aircraft into the Potomac River in a fiery collision.
The mission, meant to simulate an emergency evacuation of top congressional officials from a Capitol under siege, quickly became a disaster as multiple warnings and cues were missed. Investigators say a major communication failure happened when both pilots “stepped on” air traffic control communications, pressing their microphone buttons at the same time as instructions were given, effectively cutting off those vital transmissions.
One particularly telling moment came 20 seconds before the crash: an air traffic controller asked the helicopter, “PAT two-five, do you have the CRJ in sight?” The crew likely never heard the question because one of them had engaged the radio mic, blocking the transmission. That was the final communication from air traffic control before impact.
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Further complicating the situation, the Blackhawk helicopter’s onboard tracking technology, which would have allowed air traffic control to monitor the Blackhawk’s location more precisely, had been turned off for the mission. While a standard for simulated combat exercises, the decision meant less oversight during operations in busy civilian airspace.
Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the Army’s director of aviation, acknowledged that multiple missteps contributed to the crash. “I think what we’ll find in the end is there were multiple things that, had any one of them changed, it could have well changed the outcome of that evening,” Braman said.
In addition, cockpit recordings revealed discrepancies over the Blackhawk helicopter’s altitude. At one point, Capt. Rebecca Lobach stated they were at 300 feet, while Eaves reported 400 feet. The National Transportation Safety Board later confirmed the Blackhawk was flying at 278 feet above the 200-foot ceiling permitted in that area.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has since condemned the practice of allowing military pilots to rely solely on visual navigation in congested airspace, comparing it to “threading a needle.” He pledged to revise current policies to reduce reliance on pilot discretion in similar environments.
The crash, now considered the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since 2001, has prompted renewed scrutiny of military-civilian coordination in high-traffic airspace and the protocols surrounding training missions conducted near major airports.
