A new report about the tragic mid-air collision over Washington, D.C. that occurred in January has found scary revelations about the pilot.
According to preliminary reports, the Black Hawk pilot involved in the crash ignored direct instructions from a flight instructor in the critical moments leading up to the incident, which resulted in 67 people dying.
Before the crash, Capt. Rebecca Lobach was undergoing her yearly flight evaluation with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, her flight instructor. The report states that air traffic controllers warned them about a nearby airliner. Both Lobach and Eaves acknowledged the warning and opted for “visual separation,” a standard procedure that lets pilots steer clear of other aircraft using their own judgment instead of relying solely on air traffic control directives.
The helicopter was 15 seconds from intersecting with a jet’s path when Eaves suggested to Lobach that they should turn left, likely based on air traffic control guidance. Turning left would have created more distance from the oncoming jet, but Lobach chose not to make the turn.
Additionally, officials found that the pilots accidentally interrupted some of the air traffic controllers’ instructions—“stepping on” transmissions—by pressing their radio buttons simultaneously, likely causing them to miss critical information. Investigators believe Eaves and Lobach missed the crucial detail that the American Airlines plane was “circling” because one was holding down the microphone button to speak, blocking the transmission from air traffic control at that moment.
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The breakdown in the chain of command underscores the growing concerns that standards and adherence to authority may be eroding in the name of political correctness.
