Soldier identified in D.C. plane crash, data shows helicopter may have been too high

The U.S. Army on Saturday released the name of the third soldier who died on a Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines passenger jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport this week, killing 67 people in all. The soldier was identified as Captain Rebecca Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina. She was an aviation officer in the regular Army since 2019 and assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The Army had initially declined to identify Lobach, an unusual decision that the agency said was made at the request of the family. But on Saturday the Army said in a statement that Lobach’s family had agreed to release her name to the public. Meanwhile, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have determined the CRJ700 airplane was at 325 feet (91 meters), plus or minus 25 feet, at the time of impact, officials said at a Saturday evening news briefing. The information was based on data recovered from the jet’s flight data recorder - the “black box” that tracks the aircraft’s movements, speed and other parameters. The new detail suggests the Army helicopter was flying above 200 feet (61 meters), the maximum altitude for the route it was using. Preliminary data indicates the control tower’s radar showed the helicopter at 200 feet at the time of the accident, though officials said the information has not been confirmed. “That’s what our job is, to figure that out,” NTSB board member Todd Inman told reporters when asked what could explain the discrepancy. Inman also said at Saturday’s briefing that the helicopter’s training flight would typically include the use of night-vision goggles. “We do not know at this time if the night-vision goggles were actually being worn, nor what the setting may be,” he said. “Further investigation should be able to let us know if that occurred and what factor it may play in the overall accident.”<br/>