Posted on 01/31/2025 2:55:41 PM PST by grundle
The Army has identified two of the three soldiers killed in Wednesday's crash outside a busy Washington, D.C. airport. The three-person crew was on board a Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines passenger jet carrying 64 people.
The soldiers identified are Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O'Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Ga. and Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Md.
The third crew member on the helicopter was a female pilot with 500 hours of flying experience, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation. The Army is withholding the pilot's name at the request of her family.
The withholding of a name in instances like this is a highly unusual move. The identity of the third crew member has already drawn intense scrutiny online.
Misinformation on social media falsely claims she was a transgender pilot from the Virginia National Guard named Jo Ellis. Ellis has posted a "proof of life" video on Facebook, denouncing the rumors and offering condolences to those killed in the crash.
Illinois Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth, herself a decorated former Black Hawk pilot, told NPR she understood why the family declined to make their loved-one's name public.
" We should be respecting the family's wishes at a time when they have suffered an unbelievable loss," Duckworth said. "I think it is a perfectly legitimate request the family would make. And I'm glad that the Army is honoring that request."
Duckworth condemned the online speculation about the third member of the crew and especially President Trump's musings that the Army crew was to blame or was affected by diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring.
"Every one of those troops that was in that aircraft earned their place there, and they are the most highly trained military aviators in the world," Duckworth said. "And I am just sick to my stomach that we would have a president who would say such things about the heroic men and women who serve every single day."
Despite President Trump saying the pilots of the Army helicopter bore responsibility for the crash, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the crew was "fairly experienced" and carrying out a "required annual night evaluation, they did have night vision goggles."
There remain, however, many unanswered questions about the flight pattern of the Black Hawk helicopter and the exact nature of the training exercise it was on at the time of the crash.
"Initial indications suggest this may have been a checkride, or periodic evaluation by an experienced instructor pilot of a less experienced pilot," said Brad Bowman, a military analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former Black Hawk pilot.
"A checkride, as opposed to a normal training flight, creates some unique dynamics in the cockpit. In a checkride, the less experienced pilot can be nervous and eager to not make mistakes, while the instructor pilot is watching to see how the other pilot responds to different developments," Bowman explained. "Sometimes an instructor pilot will test the less experienced aviator to see how they respond, but such a technique would have been unusual and inadvisable in that location given the reduced margin for error." Map showing the paths of the passenger jet and Army helicopter that collided over the Potomac near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DC). D.C. plane and helicopter crash Map: See the aircraft's paths before they collided near Washington, D.C.
Defense officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, told NPR that the instructor pilot, now believed to be Chief Warrant Officer Eaves, had 1,000 hours of flight time, which is considered experienced. The co-pilot, whose name is being withheld, had 500 hours, which is considered normal.
Officials also tell NPR that the Black Hawk was supposed to be flying at a maximum of 200 feet, though sources say it was flying at least 100 feet higher. All requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the investigation.
On Thursday the National Transportation Safety Board says it recovered what are commonly called "black boxes" from the plane — the cockpit voice and flight data recorders. Federal safety investigators believe the Black Hawk helicopter also had its own recording devices, which they hope will help provide more clues on the cause of the crash.
I wonder how long we’ll see NPR posts going forward?
The name will leak.
Probably soon.
What I don’t understand is this:
Supposedly they were using night vision on this flight.
On X/Twitter somebody asked if anybody with helicopter/night vision could comment.
One person had flown with night vision and said it’s like looking down a tube.
Why were they training in a very busy airspace?
Couldn’t they have just flown west to train, out towards the fields in Virginia and Maryland?
maybe the family is morning their loss too and do not want notoriety to interfere with their lives at this time. it’s a bad deal all around but the cause is unknown to us the public yet. Just saying.
There seems to be some behinds the scenes war going on with what the Army is talking on X, which is really unprofessional at this point how they’re doing it and what the SecDef wants. That’s how it appears it seems.
Something is wrong here.
NTSB guy was even cleansing questions he said he would simply repeat for everyone to hear.
Something is up
What would the reason be that they withheld the name? The family had to have been notified already. If it WAS a tranny then maybe Trump wouldn’t feel comfortable taking a victory lap so soon and might be pausing a bit before releasing it. Or maybe it was terrorism and they’re trying to wait and see if they can flush anyone else out.
Can happen in broad daylight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerom%C3%A9xico_Flight_498
Or they’ll leak a fake name.
I agree
They named the other crew and all the passengers whose families are grieving
Maybe more since they were innocent
Can’t believe Hegseth won’t release the name
Social media scrubbing is going on, it has to be this. This is unacceptable from Trump administration!!!
The family had to have been notified already.
Maybe because they are afraid of their name being dragged through the mud by those who will focus on the DEI hire.
If you were her parents, how would you feel? So I am a bit more understanding as to why they may want to withhold publicly releasing of the name, until there is more known about the accident.
Agree!!!!!!
Maybe I’m missing something, but wouldn’t this be public information that would be subject to open public records laws?
Fox refers to the two identified as “Pilots.”
They refer to the special third person as a “soldier.”
The Misinformation machine is cranked to high.
Cover up
It was Continuity of Government training which is pretty much why military helicopters are flying around DC all the time. It’s all a big effort to watch over DC and make sure the POTUS, VP and congress critters are safe and/or can be evacuated.
I have read that body is still in the water.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.