The tragic midair collision over the Potomac River on January 29, 2025, involved a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet, resulting in the loss of all 67 individuals aboard both aircraft.

The Black Hawk helicopter was operated by a crew of three Army personnel:

Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, from Durham, North Carolina, served as the pilot undergoing her annual night flying evaluation. Lobach, who had over 450 hours of flying experience, recently served as a military social aide at the Biden White House. It took the US Army and Rebecca's family three days to scrub her social media accounts.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, from Brooksville, Mississippi, functioned as the evaluator and pilot monitoring during the flight. He was responsible for communications with air traffic controllers. Eaves was a seasoned aviation officer with a commendable service record.

Staff Sergeant Ryan Austin O'Hara, 28, from Lilburn, Georgia, served as the crew chief and in-flight aircraft maintenance technician.

According to NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, the Black Hawk helicopter was possibly flying based on "bad data" concerning its altitude, which led to the collision with Flight 5342 over the Potomac River.

The helicopter was reported to be flying at 278 feet at the time of the crash, significantly above the 200-foot altitude limit for that specific airspace.

The discrepancies in altitude readings between what was recorded and what the pilots believed they were flying at are alarming, with one pilot reporting 300 feet and another claiming 400 feet.

Just 17 seconds before the fatal impact, a directive from air traffic control to "pass behind" the commercial jet might not have been fully received by the Black Hawk crew, possibly due to a communication overlap where the pilots inadvertently "stepped on" the transmission.

The Black Hawk pilots might have accidentally overridden the communication by pressing their microphone key while responding to the control tower.