A new report reveals that the pilot of a military Black Hawk helicopter, which crashed into a passenger airplane over Washington, D.C., in January, disregarded air traffic control instructions to alter course moments before the collision, resulting in 67 deaths.
Published by the New York Times on Sunday, the report outlines the Black Hawk’s communications with air traffic controllers prior to the tragedy. The pilot, Capt. Rebecca Lobach, was undergoing her annual flight evaluation, with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves acting as her flight instructor.
When controllers warned the Black Hawk of a nearby airliner, Lobach and Eaves acknowledged the alert and requested to maintain “visual separation,” a standard procedure allowing pilots to avoid collisions based on their own observations rather than adhering to air traffic control directives.
REPORT: The female pilot flying the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines flight, made multiple mistakes and ignored a warning from her co-pilot, according to the New York Times.
Tragic.
The New York Times reports that there were multiple mistakes made… pic.twitter.com/duetUVd16J
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 27, 2025
“The Black Hawk was 15 seconds away from crossing paths with the jet. Warrant Officer Eaves then turned his attention to Captain Lobach. He told her he believed that air traffic control wanted them to turn left, toward the east river bank,” the Times reported.
“Turning left would have opened up more space between the helicopter and Flight 5342, which was heading for Runway 33 at an altitude of roughly 300 feet. She did not turn left,” the report stated.
The crash sparked immediate nationwide scrutiny of air traffic control protocols, prompting Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to launch an investigation. In March, Duffy unveiled plans to upgrade airport air traffic control systems with cutting-edge technology over the next four years and employ artificial intelligence to pinpoint “hot spots” where aircraft frequently come into close proximity.
The National Travel Safety Board (NTSB) reported 85 near-misses or close calls at Reagan National, defined as incidents with less than 200 feet of vertical separation and 1,500 feet of lateral separation between aircraft.
“We’re having near-misses, and if we don’t change our way, we’re going to lose lives,” Duffy told reporters at the time. “That wasn’t done. Maybe there was a focus on something other than safety, but in this administration, we are focusing on safety.”
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