Washington plane crash: Female soldier identified; Black Hawk helicopter on top-secret mission

The US Army has identified the female soldier in the helicopter that collided with an American Airlines flight, as chilling details emerged about what the chopper was preparing for.

The US Army has identified the female soldier in the doomed Black Hawk helicopter which crashed into an American Airlines flight, killing 67 people.

Captain Rebecca Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, was assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, the Army said in a statement.

The Army had initially refused to identify Captain Lobach at the request of her family.

The decision to release her name came “at the request of and in co-ordination with the family,” according to the statement.

Captain Rebecca. Lobach was killed in the Black Hawk crash. Picture: Supplied

The soldier’s devastated family described her as “a bright star in all our lives”. Picture: Supplied

“We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives,” her family said in a statement released by the Army.

“Rebecca was a warrior and would not hesitate to defend her country in battle.”

Staff Sergeant Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28 and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39,

were also on board.

Part of the wreckage lies in the Potomac River after the crash. Picture: AFP

It came as officials said the US Army Black Hawk was conducting top-secret training to prepare for a catastrophic event.

The crew aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk chopper is responsible for evacuation missions meant to carry top officials to safety in the case of a national emergency such as a terrorist or nuclear attack, The New York Post reports.

In a press conference, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the soldiers “were on a routine, annual re-training of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission.

Mr Hegseth said he couldn’t reveal further details on “anything that’s classified” and that “the military does dangerous things” .

BLACK BOX FOUND AS TWO WARNINGS HEARD

It came as the black box from the US Army chopper was recovered, investigators announced.

They are now reviewing that flight data recorder along with two recovered earlier from the jet.

“We have recovered the Sikorsky black box,” Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters.

Air traffic controllers also alerted the helicopter crew to the presence of the American Airlines jet twice, with the first warning issued two minutes before the crash.

Aviation experts who reviewed radio transmissions for The Washington Post said the Black Hawk helicopter responded each time by saying they could see the plane and requested “visual separation”. This request was approved twice.

Experts now suggest the crew may have seen something else and not the American Airlines flight flagged twice by the air traffic controller.

A Coast Guard crane arrives to remove the wreckage of a military Black Hawk helicopter after the crash of an American Airlines plane on the Potomac River.

“If he was looking at the right airplane he wouldn’t have hit him,” retired National Transportation Safety Board investigator Scott Dunham told The Post. “They were miles apart. … The resolution literally takes seconds.”

Haunting new video footage has also emerged, giving the clearest view yet of the moment the American Airlines passenger plane and Army helicopter exploded into pieces — sending huge chunks of fiery debris crashing into the frigid water below.

The mobile phone footage, obtained by CNN, emerged alongside claims that questionable hiring polices implemented by the US Federal Aviation Authority may have played a role in the fatal crash.

New footage of the mid-air crash.

The footage shows the Black Hawk helicopter’s red tail lights flashing as it flies directly toward the passenger jet, travelling from Wichita, Kansas, approaching the runway at Ronald Reagan National Airport about 9pm on Wednesday (1pm AEDT Thursday).

A first responder salutes as two ambulances carrying the flag draped bodies of service members killed.

In America’s deadliest aviation disaster since 2001, the Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, which had 60 passengers and four crew on-board exploded in a fireball and broke into three pieces. Three soldiers on the chopper were also killed.

The collision sparked a huge fireball, with large sections of the plane plunging into the icy Potomac River, where it was later found in three pieces.

The remains of 41 people had been pulled from the river, including 28 that had been positively identified.

Debris is washed up on shore near the crash site of an American Airlines plane along the Potomac River.

Washington DC Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr said next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families, and he expects all the remains to be recovered.

The wreckage of the plane’s fuselage will have to be pulled from the water to get all the bodies, he said.

“This is heartbreaking work,” Mr Donnelly said.

“It’s been a tough response for a lot of our people.”

It was unclear how long the recovery operation would take.

“We’re working as fast as we can,” Me Donnelly said. “We need your patience.”

Members of the Alexandria Fire Department look for debris near the crash site of an American Airlines plane along the shoreline of the Potomac River.

Although Ronald Reagan National Airport reopened, two of its three runways remained closed to keep aircraft from flying over the crash scene, Terry Liercke, the airport’s vice president and manager said.

The Federal Aviation Administration has also heavily restricted helicopter traffic around the airport, the Department of Transportation said in a statement, hours after President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that the Army Black Hawk had been flying higher than allowed.

“The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Mr Trump said on Truth Social early Saturday.

Originally published as Washington plane crash: Female soldier identified; Black Hawk helicopter on top-secret mission