A crew member aboard the helicopter that collided with a passenger plane over the Potomac River had served as a White House social aide
A female pilot of the helicopter that collided with a passenger aircraft outside Washington, DC, last week had served as a White House social aide in former President Joe Biden’s administration, her family has said in a statement after her name was released by the military.
The US Army had earlier identified the woman as Captain Rebecca Lobach, 28. The mid-air collision that took place last Wednesday claimed the lives of 67 people.
Lobach served as a White House social aide after “volunteering to support” Biden “in hosting countless White House events,” including some medal award ceremonies, according to her family’s statement published on social media over the weekend.
Photos of Lobach that surfaced online showed her in the White House briefing room and at award ceremonies. Her family initially asked the military not to release her name to the public in the wake of the crash, according to NPR, a request the outlet called “unusual” in cases involving accidents or combat deaths.
The US Army said she had served as an aviation officer since 2019 and had been awarded several medals over the course of her service. She completed a degree in biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a distinguished military graduate before joining the Army, CBS reported.
President Donald Trump blamed the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (DEI) of the previous administration for the deadly mid-air collision. He also attributed the disaster to a mistake by the helicopter pilot. “It had the ability to go up or down. It had the ability to turn, and the turn it made was not the correct turn, obviously,” Trump said last Thursday. He did not provide any specific evidence to back up those claims as the investigation into the incident is still ongoing.
The other two soldiers onboard the Black Hawk were identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, 39, and Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28. O’Hara had reportedly served as the crew chief.
A Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, collided with a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter last Wednesday night near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Both aircraft then crashed into the Potomac River.
A total of 64 people were onboard the passenger plane, including 60 passengers and four crew members. No one survived the crash. With a death toll of 67, the incident became the deadliest aviation disaster in the US sincean American Airlines flight crashed in New York in November 2001, killing all 260 people on board.
