Army Captain Killed in DC Midair Collision was a ‘brilliant and fearless’ Patriot

Washington (AP) – a US Army Captain who died in Wednesday’s Midair Collision Of a black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines -Jet was “brilliant and fearless” and “careful in everything she did,” said friends and fellow soldiers.

Captain Rebecca M. Lobach was identified by the army on Saturday as one of three soldiers killed in the crash near Reagan National Airport just outside Washington, DC in All, 67 people died, including Jet’s 60 passengers and 4 crew members.

Lobach, from Durham, North Carolina, had served as an army air officer since July 2019, and served an army pair of army and a performance medal after, said her family.

Last month, she escorted fashion designer Ralph Lauren in the White House when he was honored with the presidential medal of freedom.

USA Today The White House Correspondent Davis Winkie trained with Lobach in the University of North Carolina Rotc program. They were in the same training platon in Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 2018, and were friends ever since.

“Rebecca was brilliant and fearless, a talented pilot and a pt -stud,” winkie wrote in a social media postusing an abbreviation for physical training.

In a statement released by the army, Lobach’s family said she had more than 450 hours of flight time and obtained “Certification as Pilot-in-Command after extensive testing of the most senior and experienced pilots in her battalion.”

The army released The names of the other two black Hawk soldiers on Friday, but detained Lobach’s name until Saturday at the request of her family. Staff sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, from Lilburn, Georgia, was the herd chief. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, from Great Mills, Maryland, was a pilot.

Lobach “was a patriot she loved her country,“ her close friend, Sam Brown, told WNCN TV.

Lexi Freas credited Lobach’s mentoring to inspire her to become aviation officer in the District of Columbia National Guard.

“Not only was she interested in being a leader and being the best officer she could, but also about being the best pilot she could,” Freas told Raleigh, North Carolina, station.

Another friend, Sabrina Bell, said Lobach “was careful in everything she did, she never did anything half -hearted, she never did anything impulsive.”

Lobach’s family noted that she served as a certified sexual harassment/assault reaction and prevention victim and hoped to become a doctor when she got out of the army.

“We are destroyed by the loss of our beloved Rebecca. She was a bright star in all our lives. She was friendly, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong. No one dreamed bigger or worked harder to achieve his goals, ”the statement states.

“We request that you need to respect our privacy when we take care of this devastating loss,” Lobach’s family added.

After the crash, President Donald Trump accused the helicopter of flying at too high a height and said, “You had a pilot problem from the helicopter’s point of view. I mean, because it was visual, it was very clear evening. “

The comments combined with Trumps Rant about diversity initiatives In the air traffic controller only ranks for speculation on social media, wrong information and vitriol about the composition of the Black Hawk crew. There is no evidence that the rules of diversity entered into in the collision.

Former military recruits Bilal Kordab told WRAL-TV This Lobach was friendly, intelligent and “put so much pressure on himself to be the best of the best and go the extra mile.”

Before Lobach was transferred to the University of North Carolina, the Lobach Division III College played Basketball at the University of the South.

Winkie said he and Lobach were both latecomers for the ROTC program “and were quickly tied up to be the new kids on the block.”

One day, while at Fort Knox he learned about various army officers career paths, Winkie said he and Lobach happened on a small helicopter called an MH-6 Little Bird.

Winkie, who is 6-Foot-6 (2 meters) tall, said Lobach-listed at 5-Foot-7 (1.7 meters) in her college basketball-dimming ramp against him and asked, “We can both fit ? ”

“I will be cursed if we did not somehow pull us into that cockpit,” Winkie wrote in a tribute to Lobach on X, formerly known as Twitter. “My throat hurt, and I don’t think we would have been able to fly it very well, but we both beamed in the selfie she took.”

Winkie wrote that shortly after Wednesday’s crash he texted Lobach and asked, “You’re good?” He said he was not aware of the next day that the message had not gone through.

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Sisak reported from New York.