The Army on Saturday identified a pilot who was among three soldiers who died when their Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger airplane over Washington, D.C., this week, after the service initially withheld the name at the request of the family amid online speculation over her identity.
Capt. Rebecca Lobach, 28, of Durham, North Carolina, was identified as one of the pilots of the Black Hawk flight that collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 around 9 p.m. Wednesday evening near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. All 67 people aboard the helicopter and airplane died in the crash.
"We are devastated by the loss of our beloved Rebecca," her family said in a statement. "She was a bright star in all our lives. She was kind, generous, brilliant, funny, ambitious and strong. No one dreamed bigger or worked harder to achieve her goals."
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Friends and fellow Army officers who served alongside Lobach told Military.com in interviews Saturday that she was a skilled, dedicated and patriotic soldier who inspired and lifted up those around her. They all spoke to Military.com about their own personal memories, and their comments were not representative of the Defense Department or the Army.
Lobach commissioned into the Army from the Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she was a distinguished military graduate. She commissioned as an active-duty aviation officer in the summer of 2019.
First Lt. Samatha Brown attended the University of North Carolina with Lobach and met her during her first day of ROTC. She told Military.com that her first impression of Lobach was her immense kindness, and they soon became friends.
Brown had texted with Lobach the day of the deadly crash. The two were planning to take a trip together in a month and were coordinating their plans.
"She wasn't average; she was so far above average. She was so intelligent, she was so dedicated, she loved her friends and her family so fiercely," Brown told Military.com. "She was just outstanding."
Second Lt. Lexi Freas, a University of North Carolina graduate who met Lobach through the alumni network, told Military.com she was inspired to become a Black Hawk pilot in the D.C. Army National Guard after connecting with Lobach and going on a flight with her.
Freas said Lobach helped her prepare and edit her application to join the D.C. National Guard, saying "her impact and her effort changed the trajectory of my career, my life."
News of Lobach's death was personal, not just to her but to the entire Army aviation community.
"The aviation community, in its whole, is very small. The Army aviation community is even smaller, and the Army aviation community of women is even smaller, and those that are female aviators that also went to UNC is incredibly small," Freas told Military.com. "So to share so many qualities and decisions within our career and life, it hit way closer to home than anything else ever has. It was gut-wrenching to hear."
Lobach was flying in the Black Hawk helicopter with Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, and Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia. All three were with Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Eaves and O'Hara were both identified on Friday by the military, but Lobach's name was initially withheld from the news release at the request of her family.
"After privately grieving, the family recognized that waiting to release her name was feeding narratives that distracted from the incredible person and pilot that Rebecca was," a person familiar with the family's decision told Military.com.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump made baseless claims on Thursday morning that somehow diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, practices were connected to the tragedy.
Shortly after the crash, conspiracy theories emerged online about the identity of the third member of the Black Hawk helicopter. Accounts falsely and inaccurately claimed that Jo Ellis, a transgender pilot and chief warrant officer 2 who is a member of the Virginia National Guard, was piloting the helicopter.
There were no Virginia National Guard personnel on the flight, and Ellis released a video Friday explaining she was alive and said the rumors were "insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda."
Freas, who is attending flight school in April, said she wants to follow through with her aviation goals because of the positive impact Lobach had on her life and career.
"I owe so much of my career to her, and my hope is to bring her honor by becoming a better officer and a better pilot every day," Freas said.
Lobach was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon, according to the service.
"Her life was short, but she made a difference in the lives of all who knew her," her family said in a statement. "Our hearts break for the other families who have lost loved ones in this national tragedy, and we mourn with them."
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