Summary
Army Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, a highly accomplished pilot and top 20% ROTC cadet, was among 67 killed when her Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet near Washington, D.C.
Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth blamed “DEI” for the crash despite no official cause being determined.
Lobach had 450+ flight hours and numerous military honors.
The point is anybody could have missed seeing that plane. It’s not even certain they had an angle that allowed them to see it. And what about the plane pilots? Her helicopter was 100 feet high but there was supposed to be 200 feet of separation between the ceiling and floor of the respective paths. Ergo, the plane was 100 feet low.
It was a stupidly difficult situation for both crews and that’s why they’ve indefinitely closed the helicopter path.
I’m not confident in the altitudes yet. Maybe you have better data, but everything I’ve seen indicating those values is based on GPS, which is not always very accurate. I suspect we’ll know more soon but I don’t know that we’ll ever have the full story about if PAT25 had the wrong CRJ visual or what.
Yeah, my main point is that blaming just one person for this entire tragedy requires ignoring a lot of other factors.
The helicopter confirmed visual. Plane pilots were on the approach with clearance to land. Controller gave the helicopter the CRJ’s height and vector. They knew we’re to look to see it.
And it’s still not that easy.