Althouse: "At the request of and in coordination with the family, the Army is releasing the name of the third Soldier who died while performing a training mission near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29."

February 2, 2025

"At the request of and in coordination with the family, the Army is releasing the name of the third Soldier who died while performing a training mission near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29."

"Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, served as an aviation officer (15A) in the regular Army from July 2019 to January 2025. She has no deployments. She was assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion, Ft Belvoir, Va. Her awards include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon. Our deepest condolences go out to her family, and all the families who are mourning the loss of their loved ones impacted by this devastating accident...."

Reads the statement from the Army.

107 comments:

doctrev said...: Okay, at what point did "request from the family" supposedly override the national interest in knowing who was involved in a fatal aviation accident? The senior officers of the army have lost their minds, and the President might seriously be considering a revocation of their commissions.; 2/2/25, 8:37 AM
Leland said...: I want to know why the training mission couldn't have waited an hour or two? Supposedly this was a night proficiency flight for preparation of continuity of government (evacuation of DC) scenario. In such a scenario, the airspace around DC would be shutdown as it is around Air Force One, so no need to practice in a congested airspace.; 2/2/25, 8:48 AM
Larry J said...: According to the aviation website AvWeb, Capt Lobach was the pilot flying. The article states she was certified as a Blackhawk pilot in command. That suggests she was in the right seat (the opposite of fixed wing aircraft), meaning she likely had little to no visibility on the airliner as it was approaching from the helicopter's left. As pilot flying, it was her responsibility to maintain the proper altitude, and as this was an instructional flight, the instructor was also supposed to be watching her performance. The instructor's attention to the altitude might have been diverted while looking for the airliner.

There is no aircraft in the world that senses the sex or race of the pilot and adjusts its flying characteristics accordingly. She was rated as pilot in command of the Blackhawk and should have been held to the same performance standards as anyone else. There is no evidence she was given preferential treatment. Lacking that, any such discussion is just bullshit.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/radar-fdr-disagree-on-dc-blackhawk-altitude/

There is this information that was released yesterday that's puzzling. The NTSB and other investigators are working to determine the reason for the discrepancies.

"The scope being used by the controller working both the American Eagle flight and Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided Thursday in Washington, D.C., showed the helicopter about 125 feet lower than the CRJ700 it met over the Potomac River. At a press briefing on Saturday, NTSB member Todd Inman said the flight data recorder and ADS-B data put the regional jet at 325 feet AGL at the point of impact, plus or minus 25 feet, while the controller's console showed the helicopter at 200 feet, the ceiling of the flight corridor it was flying at the time. Inman said the discrepancy would likely be reconciled Sunday when results of FDR analysis from the Black Hawk are complete, but he did note that radar altitude displays have less fidelity than the recorders."; 2/2/25, 8:48 AM
Peachy said...: what is the desired result of having army training so close to a commercial airport? (or a commercial airport so close to army training) I hear that near-collisions were a thing.
Not acceptable.
btw- I watched the video. over and over... it is very clear the helicopter hit the plane. A plane on final approach should not have to navigate around an army helicopter. just some thoughts.; 2/2/25, 8:56 AM
Wince said...: Was Lobach's social media and that of her family scrubbed during the delay?

Lobach also served as a White House social aide during the Biden administration, Brown said. Just last month, she escorted Ralph Lauren through the White House when he was among those awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Joe Biden.

Capt. Rebecca Lobach pictured in the White House Briefing Room, Jan. 24, 2023.; 2/2/25, 9:04 AM
Mike Petrik said...: Agree 100% on all counts. People just rush to judgment in accordance with their preexisting biases. Only convenient facts are important.; 2/2/25, 9:06 AM
Wince said...: I tend to think that Lobach photo was a pose at the podium due to her White House access and not her actually answering press questions.; 2/2/25, 9:07 AM
Howard said...: I understand that those of you with IQs of 110 who think your IQs are north of 130 cannot help yourself but to try and shoehorn in this tragedy into your favorite political hobby horse. The reason why aviation is so incredibly safe in the United States is because the NTSB is an honest broker. As every pilot on this blog knows, the aviation safety manual is written in blood. Who knows maybe it is d e i, but let the professionals do their job before you jump up and down on the dozens of corpses trying to make a cheap political point.; 2/2/25, 9:08 AM
Peachy said...: Prediction: The Army is not going to want to take proper responsibility.
Somehow - the poor AA pilot will be blamed.; 2/2/25, 9:12 AM
Narayanan said...: exactly
unless helo was creating scenario for AF1 getting attacked; 2/2/25, 9:14 AM
Christy said...: Is it usual in a five and a half year career as an aviator to have no deployments? How often are hard core flyers used as White House docents?; 2/2/25, 9:15 AM
Big Mike said...: There is no aircraft in the world that senses the sex or race of the pilot and adjusts its flying characteristics accordingly. She was rated as pilot in command of the Blackhawk and should have been held to the same performance standards as anyone else. There is no evidence she was given preferential treatment. Lacking that, any such discussion is just bullshit.

That could be chiseled in stone.; 2/2/25, 9:17 AM
gspencer said...: Social media scrubbed,

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/female-pilot-rebecca-lobach-had-her-entire-social/

Probably a left-wing loon.; 2/2/25, 9:17 AM
gilbar said...: the controller's console showed the helicopter at 200 feet, the ceiling of the flight corridor it was flying at the time.
How come we hear that she was TWICE the limit?

this sounds A LOT like saying:
gilbar was traveling at 55mph.. the limit of the hiway he was traveling on .
Having a machine tell you where she SHOULD be flying isn't telling you where she WAS flying. She did NOT miss the jet by 125 feet.. she HIT it.; 2/2/25, 9:18 AM
n.n said...: The role of DEI (i.e. institutional, systemic Diversity: racism, sexism, etc.) is related and confirmed to staffing and earnest defense. The same failure that happened in California, Michigan, etc. where class preceded merit in journolistic et al testimony. As for discerning cause and effect, let the evidence guide the investigation.; 2/2/25, 9:21 AM
gspencer said...: It will be an AA pilot - the affirmative action pilot.; 2/2/25, 9:22 AM
gilbar said...: 1st they said she had "500 hours".. THEN they said she had "450 hours"..
THEN they said she'd been working in the White House as Presidential Hair Sniffee for the last TWO years..
Serious Question: How many hours had she had in the last year BEFORE this requalification flight?

Snarky Question: did she get her hair cut before going back on flight status?

FINAL QUESTIONS:
What happened to her social media?
What was ON her social media?
HOW COME the "family" got to ERASE her social media

and FINALLY: how many OTHER planes did she have near misses with THAT NIGHT?; 2/2/25, 9:23 AM
gilbar said...: it COMPLETELY DEPENDS, on how long and sniffable thier hair is!; 2/2/25, 9:27 AM
Big Mike said...: @Peachy, they can try to blame the commercial pilot, but (1) was there any warning from the controller that there was a helicopter heading towards his plane, and (2) was not the CRJ at the correct altitude and on the correct glide slope for its landng? Note that Runway 33 is only 5200 feet so landing long is an issue.

The controller told the helicopter to go behind the commercial aircraft, not below it and certainly not into it.; 2/2/25, 9:28 AM
john mosby said...: The military social aides are temporary hey-you details drawn from military officers in the DC area (of which there are a lot). They are called ‘social’ to distinguish them from the real mil aides who handle the nuclear football and other aspects of the POTUS’s CinC duties. They are essentially ushers for large events in the WH. Each iteration takes just a few hours, probably from their tiny amount of free time. In other words, being a social aide does not detract from the officer’s day job. Probably more distracted by the common additional duties of mess hall officer, voting officer, linen count officer, etc, that plague lieutenants and captains.

JSM; 2/2/25, 9:29 AM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: "....but he did note that radar altitude displays have less fidelity than the recorders."

My inference is that ATC can't do much to police the 200-feet ceiling (unless a helicopter is obviously well above it, unlike here). What ATC reportedly did do was confirm with the helo crew that it had visual contact with the airliner and direct the helo to go behind it.; 2/2/25, 9:30 AM
Martha said...: It appears that Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach’s father is an endocrinologist MD/PhD at Duke and that her mother, Mary Lee Lobach, MD, ESMHL, formerly an ob gyn , now owns and operates a Equine Therapeutic Center for Women called Circle of Oaks. They probably wanted to keep their anonymity.; 2/2/25, 9:30 AM
Mike Petrik said...: They can't help themselves. No better than the Left.; 2/2/25, 9:31 AM
Spiros said...: The negligence was so extreme and the consequences so awful, that Ms. Lobach's actions were the functional equivalent of murder. She's no hero.; 2/2/25, 9:31 AM
Mike Petrik said...: Yes, and according our ultracrepidarian commentariat they have no right to manage or scrub their late daughter's social media, which apparently belongs to the public or something.; 2/2/25, 9:33 AM
Breezy said...: NTSB has been great with sharing what it’s found, so far. Lots of critical details and status have been divulged. No reason to think we’ll not have the complete picture in a relatively short time.; 2/2/25, 9:34 AM
Aggie said...: @Larry J: "...There is no evidence she was given preferential treatment....".

Well... Aside from having her identity withheld as the operator likely at some degree of fault in the tragedy, while somebody else took the opportunity to scrub her social media accounts, which would inform about her views on diversity and preferential treatment. I would call that 'preferential treatment', since it was apparently done for political advantage in the name of sympathy, and since there is no right to privacy under these circumstances.; 2/2/25, 9:37 AM
Big Mike said...: Reagan National Airport is open 24/7 and does not shut down at night, however there are noise rules in effect from 11:30 PM to 6:00 AM which limits commercial air traffic in and out. Do those same noise rules limit army training flights over the Potomac? Something else for the NTSB to consider.; 2/2/25, 9:37 AM
Mark said...: Yes, her parents were hoping not to be doxxed on random right wing blogs.
So glad you handled that.; 2/2/25, 9:39 AM
mindnumbrobot said...: I have a picture of myself at the Senate briefing podium, taken while being given a tour by a Capitol Police friend. That picture of Lobach is nothing out of the ordinary.; 2/2/25, 9:39 AM
Howard said...: Uh, you solo when your instructor has determined that you can handle it. Most pilots solo at around 10 hours. 40 hours is approximately what it takes to get your Private pilot license. 450 hours in a helicopter is a good bit of time. For one, helicopter missions tend to be much much shorter than fixed wing where a majority of the time is straight and level flight whereas a helicopter mission is usually close to the ground and involves a lot more stick and rudder.; 2/2/25, 9:40 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Ok. I was wrong. Not the first time and not the last, I'm sure.; 2/2/25, 9:40 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: That's a good question.; 2/2/25, 9:43 AM
rhhardin said...: I soloed at 8 hours and age 16; 2/2/25, 9:45 AM
Howard said...: I hate to break it to you Peaches, military and civilian aircraft mix it up all the time all over this country. It is very acceptable and desirable. Many of the airports in this country were originally military air bases. Sometimes, shit happens. That doesn't mean that the proper response is to turn tail and run away. You obviously don't have the stomach for working in a sausage factory. That's cool, just stay in your lane, sweetie pie. Let the men figure it out and they'll tell you the proper response to this particular incident.; 2/2/25, 9:47 AM
Mr Wibble said...: It's entirely possible, especially these days. And a tour working in either the WH or Congress isn't that unusual for a captain, especially if she had received high marks on prior evaluations, or simply had the right mentors.; 2/2/25, 9:47 AM
Big Mike said...: Probably a left-wing loon.

@gspencer, her politics have nothing to do with her flying skills. She should have been able to hold 200 feet.; 2/2/25, 9:53 AM
n.n said...: With the NYT et al focusing on sex, Critical Diversity Theory advises us that DEI (e.g. sexism, racism, etc) was the primary forcing of catastrophic anthropogenic climate change and diverse abortions.; 2/2/25, 9:54 AM
Curious George said...: " There is no evidence she was given preferential treatment. Lacking that, any such discussion is just bullshit."

Ah, the "no evidence" standard.; 2/2/25, 9:55 AM
Luke Lea said...: So maybe not DEI at all? What about those in the control tower?; 2/2/25, 9:56 AM
heyboom said...: @Peachy, military mishap investigation boards are notoriously frank and brutally honest. They will investigate this thoroughly all the way to the leadership and heads will roll.; 2/2/25, 9:57 AM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: "Who knows maybe it is d e i. .."

Then why shouldn't people discuss that possibility?

I hate it when people dismiss discussions of POLICY differences as "political." If Trump goes after Newsom for starving California of water, that's a POLICY critique. Same for attacks on Biden for opening the southern border. If dems don't like it that people tend to vote against bad policies, they should change the policies, not try to delegitimatize debate over the policies.; 2/2/25, 9:58 AM
heyboom said...: @Leland, how about 30 seconds to allow the AE jet to pass?; 2/2/25, 9:58 AM
FullMoon said...: Seems to me that according to more experienced commenters since this happened,this woman was a competent pilot, who made a mistake.

Doesn't matter if she voted for trump or kamala, gay or straight.; 2/2/25, 10:02 AM
Ampersand said...: Seems to me we don't know the facts yet.; 2/2/25, 10:05 AM
Mark said...: Dixcus, pro-doxxing of military families.; 2/2/25, 10:10 AM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: True. There obviously should have been a lot more separation between aircraft as a general rule around DCA. Not having a large enough margin of error just invites disaster.; 2/2/25, 10:12 AM
thesixthmoon said...: Two things can be correct at once. DEI is a pernicious influence in the FAA and the military which should be eradicated, and DEI had nothing to do with this accident.; 2/2/25, 10:12 AM
Yancey Ward said...: The jet was always going to cross the 200 ft limit the helo was supposed to be held to. So one two things has to be true- (1) the crash happened above the 200 ft ceiling and the helo pilot was primarily at fault or (2) the crash happened at or below the 200 ft ceiling and the helo pilot and the air traffic controller share the blame in unknown ratios.; 2/2/25, 10:15 AM
rhhardin said...: Women don't do as well as men but there's nothing here requiring extraordinary performance. It's just flying a helicopter and keeping normal track of things.

The problem was being told to avoid a jet that's invisible from your perspective and picking the jet you can see instead. A badly thought through traffic control policy.; 2/2/25, 10:15 AM
Bob Boyd said...: I'm no expert, but it seems to me that, with his screen flashing a collision warning, the AT controller should have urgently issued orders to the helo to take immediate evasive action like 'turn left now' or 'reduce altitude to 100 feet now!' instead of just asking if they saw the plane.; 2/2/25, 10:16 AM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: Hypothetically, what if a pilot's social media contained clues that might point to a causal factor in the collision? Do you still think it's laudable for the family to bury that information?; 2/2/25, 10:17 AM
Mike Petrik said...: "Ah, the "no evidence" standard." Yeah, we don't need no stinkin' evidence.; 2/2/25, 10:19 AM
Yancey Ward said...: As for the alleged social media scrubs, if it is relevant to the NTSB investigation it will be unscrubbed and released as part of the interim and final reports.; 2/2/25, 10:19 AM
Koot Katmandu said...: Too bad Trump used DEI to politicize this. I think a major error on his part. Even if DEI played a role here their was no need to call it out so soon. It was hurtful to the families involved and just divided more people into their camps.; 2/2/25, 10:21 AM
Paddy O said...: Why is you knowing a matter of national interest? The people who are involved in the investigation knew. For everyone else it's just curiosity at best and disaster porn at worst.; 2/2/25, 10:32 AM
mezzrow said...: My info to date says it was at least 300 at impact. This is the best review I have found to date.
Pilot Review w/ Video - 30 mins; 2/2/25, 10:32 AM
Mason G said...: If the left hadn't pushed DEI so hard, there'd be nothing to politicize.

Just sayin'.; 2/2/25, 10:34 AM
Eva Marie said...: Wince asked:
Was Lobach's social media and that of her family scrubbed during the delay?
Yup. From the Gateway Pundit:
It took the US Army and Rebecca’s family three days to scrub her social media accounts. They really don’t want the public to know anything about this female pilot.; 2/2/25, 10:37 AM
Larry J said...: The FAA has a shortage of air traffic controllers and the tower was under staffed. It was reported last week that over 2000 people who passed the training qualification test were turned down for the job because they were “too white”. Make of that what you will.; 2/2/25, 10:37 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: 450 hours in a copter. And a captain. Is this a lot, or below average. just asking. How much you want to bet she was fast-forwarded to Helicopter Pilot and Captain due to being a women.

Finally, curious there's no husband and no mention of a financee or boyfriend. Assume lesbian. And liberal Democrat NTTAWWT. But maybe that's why her social media was scrubbed.; 2/2/25, 10:38 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: I wonder if the Army has a quota system for Copter pilots. X percent must be POC, X percent must be wimmin. I'd bet they do.; 2/2/25, 10:39 AM
Christy said...: Never let a crisis go to waste.; 2/2/25, 10:43 AM
Hey Skipper said...: The scope being used by the controller working both the American Eagle flight and Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided Thursday in Washington, D.C., showed the helicopter about 125 feet lower than the CRJ700 ...

I was about to type "Since the CRJ was on ILS glidepath ..." After all, most runways serving airline operations have ILS approaches.

Then I thought to look at the approaches for 33. Just one: RNAV GPS RWY 33. This is a non-precision approach, with visual glidepath guidance from Precision Approach Path Indicators, from 2.5º to 3.3º in four roughly 0.2º increments.

The initial approach was to RWY 01, then maneuvering to line up on 33. (I don't recall flying that one, but the standard arrival into 19 was the LDA RWY 19, which was lined up on 15, but required pretty aggressive maneuvering for a DC-9 on sort final to line up on 19.

Unlike being established on an ILS, where glidepath and airspeed control is pretty straightforward, maneuvering to final introduces is far more dependent upon basic stick and rudder skills, especially at night.

It is not a given that the CRJ was on the 3º glideslope — when I look at the video, preceding the midair, the CRJs approach angle looks flat, which means the collision could have happened lower than I originally assumed. Probably not low enough to provoke the Ground Proximity Warning System, which would have required a go-around, but — if in fact the CRJ was below the visual glidepath, would have reduced the margin with the helo corridor.

Keeping in mind that unless the approach was so flat that it triggered the GPWS, or violated the CRJ's criteria for a stabilized approach, then the CRJ was within normal parameters, and the helo was not.; 2/2/25, 10:49 AM
n.n said...: Trump's remarks covered diverse grounds, mainly staffing, understaffing, etc, not pilots. The issue of bloc ideology before merit, before individual dignity is a clear concern for most Americans. #HateLovesAbortion; 2/2/25, 10:51 AM
chuck said...: Mary Cleave also soloed at 16 and got her private license at 17.; 2/2/25, 10:58 AM
n.n said...: DEI (i.e. institutional, systemic Diversity), including: racism, sexism, etc, is a political issue. Offering class-selective preferences (e.g. nepotism, sexism, racism) is a national and progressive risk, and an intolerable policy of equivocation that garners incompetence and diverse abortions (e.g. California fires), injury (e.g. Michigan water), etc.; 2/2/25, 10:58 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Probably only about three years of flying, so not all that experienced; 2/2/25, 10:59 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Probably about three years of flying, including flight school. Bigger question is how much flight time in the past month/past six months (for both pilots).; 2/2/25, 11:02 AM
natatomic said...: DEI isn't just about race. "Women" (when it suits the left to define it) is also a quota DEI tries to fill in male-dominated fields.; 2/2/25, 11:06 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Or did. Photos last night suggested that she was Lesbo. Hence the scrubbing of her social media.; 2/2/25, 11:11 AM
JAORE said...: "Agree 100% on all counts. People just rush to judgment in accordance with their preexisting biases. Only convenient facts are important."
The world as it SHOULD be would have the TV talking heads AND the political types saying wait for the reports. But that is NOT the world we live in (see school shootings and more).
But I used to deal with public hearings on controversial projects. The rule we lived with was, "the vacuum caused by lack of information will be filled with the most negative interpretations imaginable".
I understand the family wanting her name kept out of the fray. I sadly see "experts" lining up to pontificate over possible causes. But in this day and age the vacuum was filled.; 2/2/25, 11:18 AM
Sally327 said...: The Army looks after its own. I don't think that's such a surprise. They're not going to give away anything unnecessarily. But that's why there's civilian oversight. Let's see where that gets us.; 2/2/25, 11:21 AM
rhhardin said...: That's the age limits. 16 was too young to drive so bicycled to the airport.; 2/2/25, 11:22 AM
The Drill SGT said...: regardless of exact height of the -60, wouldn't if trigger something automatic or in the ATC mind to have a heavy fixed wing and a helo cross paths with only 100 ft of vertical separation?; 2/2/25, 11:22 AM
The Drill SGT said...: Had a friend that was a WH social Aide, decades ago. USCG Capt (O-6) helo pilot. It was a part time evenings and weekend gig mostly. He had a day job; 2/2/25, 11:28 AM
n.n said...: Trump injected the risk of Diversity (i.e. class-disordered ideologies) under DEI. Who injected sex into the conversation? Was it NYT? Was it a Democratic apologist for racist, sexist, nepotic, etc policies?; 2/2/25, 11:28 AM
Leland said...: Airports have a flow to them that coincides with international flights and other connections. Late evening is usually when flights are connecting with Europe. After 11, the rate of flights would be much lower. Saying it is open 24 hours as if it is always busy is as silly as saying the highway is open 24 hours and always has rush hour traffic.; 2/2/25, 11:31 AM
The Drill SGT said...: agree. a part time job for pretty officers, these days I suspect that race and gender are bigger deals. used to be just pretty and a mix of services. heroes were a bonus. would get you off the Staff duty or AOD rosters though; 2/2/25, 11:33 AM
Ice Nine said...: >Probably a left-wing loon.<

Who knows what degree of loon she was, though clearly some: She did work for Biden as a White House aide.; 2/2/25, 11:35 AM
The Drill SGT said...: the tower was understaffed. the ATC person was working both the fixed wing and the helo traffic with separate scopes and boards. normally staffed by two ATCs; 2/2/25, 11:36 AM
The Drill SGT said...: time at night?
recent time?
what was her previous assignment?
how recently?; 2/2/25, 11:42 AM
n.n said...: gender are bigger deals

Sex-correlated attributes. Breasts?; 2/2/25, 11:48 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Here is my theory. Revocable upon further information.

She was a Captain, and thus probably should have been commanding a unit (company). Because of her more political duties in the FJB Administration, she was a bit light on hours (esp in comparison with other Captains who have deployed overseas), and in particular, needed recertification in night flying around town. Hence her as PIC, and the other pilot, with significantly more hours, certifying her. It was probably considered urgent due to her (new?) command responsibilities.

While very bright, she appears to be Lesbian, and presumptively then a AA promotion. Her day job was VIP transport, with the requirement to be able to extract high ranking govt VIPs, if the SHTF. It’s a high profile job - just the sort of thing that someone in her position would like. Except that she was light on hours, and probably esp night flying hours in the DC area.

Scrubbing social media would make perfect sense if she were, indeed, Lesbo. Promoted and assigned to (command?) this high profile unit on the basis of her sex and sexual orientation. Just the sort of thing that SecDef vowed to get rid of. It might very well make her superior officers look bad.; 2/2/25, 12:02 PM
William said...: My opinion on this is uninformed and probably not without bias. My opinion is that there was probably a conjunction of errors at fault here. My hope is that it takes more than just one mistake by one person to cause such a tragedy. The fault lies not in the pilot, the equipment, the ATC, but rather on the constellation of their stars. I guess the way the human heart works is that we'll wish to find a scapegoat and pin blame on one particular person or policy......Perhaps the helo pilot has part of the blame, perhaps it was a dick move on Trump's part to talk about DEI even as the bodies were being recovered. People will choose what to be outraged by........Well, anyway, it's a good thing that such training flights have now been cancelled. So that's an appropriate lesson that's been learned.; 2/2/25, 12:07 PM
Ice Nine said...: >I want to know why the training mission couldn't have waited an hour or two? Supposedly this was a night proficiency flight for preparation of continuity of government (evacuation of DC) scenario. In such a scenario, the airspace around DC would be shutdown as it is around Air Force One, so no need to practice in a congested airspace.<

I doubt that it will be quite as clean there as you suggest, when the shit actually hits the fan. And as they say, "In war, the first thing to go is the plan." You train for worst case scenario, then everything less is gravy.; 2/2/25, 12:09 PM
Mark said...: They won't be able to hide it from law enforcement, just internet trolls. I fail to see the issue.; 2/2/25, 12:14 PM
Mark said...: Where was this reported, Larry?; 2/2/25, 12:16 PM
The Drill SGT said...: I was in an Army sponsored civilian fixed wing course, so I don't know if it was accelerated, but I soloed at 5, finished the funded course at 35, paid for the FAA check ride at 36 hours; 2/2/25, 12:17 PM
chuck said...: Yep, she got her flying license before her drivers license.

I had no idea how to drive a car. He [the instructor] said, “This is the first person I’ve ever had in an airplane that doesn’t have anything to forget about [driving] mechanics; her whole interaction is with an airplane.”; 2/2/25, 12:17 PM
hombre said...: Lovely, touching message from the family.; 2/2/25, 12:19 PM
Howard said...: Tell that to all the Vietnam veteran helicopter pilots who turned 21 while in country under the high school to flight School warrant officer program.; 2/2/25, 12:23 PM
NKP said...: The proper response to "shit happens" is NOT "Carry On".....; 2/2/25, 12:29 PM
Leland said...: DCA is busy weeknights until midnight. Only a handful of scheduled flights between midnight and 6am. Step-off at midnight, and this flight becomes just as difficult as it needs to be for training, but safer for everybody. You would think a near miss from 24 hours earlier might have caused some caution. I could understand if the weather was going to get worse after midnight, but it was going to get better. If you need to be ready to operate at any time, then midnight is one of those times.

Airspaces are shutdown all the time and quickly. After both of the recent accidents, airspace was shutdown in minutes and aircraft put in hold or diverted. It is as simple as a radio call on frequency, and pilots should have an alternative planned with adequate fuel reserves for every flight for such an event. You prepare for the worst case scenario, you don't train in it. We don't have military logistics yearly clogging up roadways to show they can move convoys over the Interstate highway system in a worst case scenario. That's just silly.; 2/2/25, 12:33 PM
The Drill SGT said...: minor nits. At 5 years of service, this was likely at least a year of schools, AOBC plus IFT, UH-60 transition, plus? Then a utilization tour in a utility battalion at a high helo density location like Ft Campbell. There she would have built hours and gotten operational experience in night and formation flying. Majors command helo companies, not very junior Captains, I'll bet she was sent to the Aviation Captains Career course, then recently to this VIP company. She likely needed a check-ride on each of her assigned pick-up locations (day and night); 2/2/25, 12:49 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: A test pilot and aviation safety expert of my youthful acquaintance always said, in response to my curiosity, "Patience. Wait for the NTSB report."; 2/2/25, 12:50 PM
NKP said...: Just about anyone with routine access to special places has a few 'selfies'

My brother, a former ASW helo driver, was about same age as this pilot, when a WH Social Aide and Georgetown grad student who maintained flying profiency, all while working a 'day job' in the E Ring at Pentagon. He too put one in the water at night, somewhere in the Pacific. One of those guys constantly stepping in shit without getting any on his shoes.; 2/2/25, 12:52 PM
NKP said...: The system works because the objective is not to punish the 'guilty' but to fix the problem. It's easy to point at the person in the tower or the one in the cockpit but, often they failed because someone higher-up signed-off on something really stupid.; 2/2/25, 1:08 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: She has 450-500 hours total. Those guys had 2-3 times as much by their three year anniversary. Thanks - you’re helping make my point; 2/2/25, 1:17 PM
Howard said...: Uhh, no. The reason why aviation in the United States is so safe is because of the personal responsibility placed upon the pilot in command. If you dive into the NTSB reports on crash investigations you will find that nine times out of 10 crashes are the result of pilot error. The system is about as good as it can get and still people like you complain.; 2/2/25, 1:19 PM
Howard said...: Yeah that was after their tour in Vietnam so what you're implying is that the very young very inexperienced Huey pilots in Southeast Asia were too inexperienced for the responsibility of being pilots in command of combat aircraft. Also I know a lot of helicopter pilots and no self-respecting balls to the wall helicopter pilot whatever call himself a driver. Just saying; 2/2/25, 1:21 PM
Joe Bar said...: This is the "Swiss Cheese" theory of causation. All of the holes line up, and allowed the incident to happen.; 2/2/25, 1:44 PM
Ralph L said...: The problem was being told to avoid a jet that's invisible from your perspective and picking the jet you can see instead.
The helo was told to cross *behind* the jet, yet turned in front of it. I don't believe there was another arrival close in front of the CRJ that the helo could have thought the tower was referring to, only one well down river, which she also turned in front of. For a while, I believed it might have been an intentional crash, but there were two pilots aboard. How could they both have misjudged their course and speed and that of the jet so badly? Passing closely behind but missing, the jet wash still could have knocked them out of the sky.; 2/2/25, 1:46 PM
NKP said...: DEI possibly involved in assignment to high profile duty, including WH Social Aide. The is no indication of early promotion to captain (in stone age, there were no promotion boards to O-3, just time-served.

HOWEVER - DEI certainly played role in tower staffing (No white guys need apply.).; 2/2/25, 1:46 PM
Larry J said...: There are simply too many factors contributing to the collision to dismissively put 100% of the blame on her. Too many unknowns.; 2/2/25, 1:56 PM
rhhardin said...: Paid for flying lessons working as a lab assistant at $0.80 an hour. But then lessons were only $14/hr ($10/hr solo). In Lake Placid a J3 was $6.50 an hour solo, for summertime fun. I think the prices more or less work out after inflation today.; 2/2/25, 2:00 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Anyone who’s flown into Reagan National knows it’s an airport that shouldn’t be there, with its tiny runway, snaking approach, and proximity to terror targets. Despite decades of near misses, Congress has insisted on expanding the number of flights there. The Army in turn has insisted on preserving its prerogatives, which we now know included helicopter training with night-vision goggles in the low-altitude flight path of civilian aircraft.

Fixing all that will no doubt prove impossible, so let’s go lesbian hunting on social media.; 2/2/25, 2:03 PM