Rebecca Lobach: Army captain killed in Washington DC crash was 'brilliant and fearless’, say friends

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery Rebecca Lobach with Ralph Lauren and Joe Biden Davis Winkie, a USA Today White House correspondent, trained with Lobach in the University of North Carolina ROTC program. In a statement released by the Army, Lobach’s family said she had more than 450 hours of flight time and earned “certification as a pilot-in-command after extensive testing by the most senior and experienced pilots in her battalion.” The Army released the names of the two other Black Hawk soldiers on Friday, but withheld Lobach’s name until Saturday at the request of her family. Winkie said he and Lobach were both latecomers to the ROTC program “and quickly bonded over being the new kids on the block.” One day, while at Fort Knox learning about different Army officer career paths, Winkie said he and Lobach happened upon a small helicopter called a MH-6 Little Bird. Winkie, who is 6-foot-6 tall, said Lobach — listed at 5-foot-7 in her college basketball days — smiled mischievously at him and asked: “Think we can both fit?” “I’ll be damned if we didn’t somehow stuff ourselves into that cockpit,” Winkie wrote in a tribute to Lobach on X, formerly known as Twitter.