An investigation has revealed a crucial mistake that the Black Hawk Helicopter made before colliding with an American Airlines flight.
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The fiery crash occurred on January 29, when a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided mid-air with American Airlines Flight 5342, sending both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River just outside Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Authorities have now revealed that Capt. Rebecca Lobach, the Black Hawk’s pilot, failed to heed a critical warning from her instructor just 15 seconds before the deadly impact, according to The New York Times.
The report states that Lobach missed an urgent order from co-pilot and flight instructor Andrew Eaves — who was overseeing her mandatory training mission — to change course and avoid the descending American Airlines jet.
In the chaos leading up to the crash, investigators also discovered that the helicopter pilots "stepped on" air traffic controller instructions — meaning they accidentally cut off the controller’s message by pressing the microphone button to speak, likely missing critical information.
A key moment came around 8:46PM, when Eaves requested and received approval for the Black Hawk pilots to rely on visual navigation rather than direct air traffic control — a move common in training flights, but one that introduces additional risk of human error.
During this crucial period, investigators believe Lobach and Eaves may not have heard that American Airlines Flight 5342 was "circling" due to one of them transmitting over the radio at the exact moment the instruction came through, per the New York Post.
Just 20 seconds before disaster struck, the air-traffic controller asked the Black Hawk crew: “PAT two-five, do you have the CRJ in sight?” — using the abbreviation for Flight 5342’s aircraft model. That turned out to be the final communication between the helicopter and the tower.
According to NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy: "There's no indication the U.S. Army Black Hawk crew could tell there was an impending collision before its devastating crash with an American Airlines plane in Washington, D.C."
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Homendy also explained: "We are looking at the possibility of there may be bad data," hinting at another layer of confusion in the seconds before impact.
Compounding the confusion, there was a discrepancy in the pilots’ understanding of their altitude. One pilot announced they were flying at 300 feet, while another said they were at 400 feet, recordings revealed.
At the moment of impact, the Black Hawk was flying at 278 feet, Homendy confirmed. However, she added: “That doesn’t mean that’s what the Black Hawk crew was seeing on the barometric altimeters in the cockpit.”
Technology that would have allowed air traffic control to better track the helicopter — typically left off during military training flights — was disabled during this mission as well, per the New York Post.
Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the Army’s director of aviation, emphasized the complexity of the tragedy, saying: “I think what we’ll find in the end is there were multiple things that, had any one of them changed, it could have well changed the outcome of that evening.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also weighed in, criticizing the practice of allowing pilots to self-navigate visually near crowded airspace like Reagan Airport, likening the process to “threading a needle” and vowing to eliminate it.
The Black Hawk had been conducting an annual night vision goggle training flight at the time of the crash — a standard requirement for pilot certifications.
Homendy confirmed that the crew was likely wearing night vision goggles, adding another potential complication to visibility and judgment during the flight.
64 people lost their lives aboard the plane, while all three on the helicopter also tragically died.