WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The pilot of a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in Washington DC was a transgender woman named Jo Ellis.
OUR VERDICT
False. The pilot was not Jo Ellis.
AAP FACTCHECK - Misinformation about a deadly collision between a passenger jet and a US Army helicopter over Washington DC, including false claims about the helicopter pilot's identity, is spreading on social media.
The collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport killed all 64 passengers and crew members on American Airlines Flight 5342 and three soldiers in the Black Hawk helicopter on January 30
Crash investigators are probing the aircraft altitudes and air traffic controller staffing levels at the time of the accident.
Speaking about the accident, US President Donald Trump criticised his predecessor's diversity hiring policies and suggested, without evidence, that they could have contributed, The Associated Press reported.
On February 1, the US Army confirmed the names of two soldiers onboard the Black Hawk, including crew chief Staff Sergeant Ryan O'Hara and instructor pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves.
The pilot's name was initially withheld at the request of her family, but she was identified on February 2 as Captain Rebecca Lobach.
However, Facebook, Truth Social, Telegram and X posts had already falsely identified her as a transgender woman named Jo Ellis.
"The pilot of the Black Hawk has been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) Jo Ellis, a transgender woman. Jo Ellis served in the Virginia National Guard for 15 years and transitioned while serving as a pilot. Jo has been making radicalized anti-Trump statements on socials," the post captions said.
The claim was published by the Santa Monica Observer, which has been previously debunked and rated as unreliable by Media Bias, and by News-Pravda.com, which was in February 2024 identified as a part of a pro-Russian disinformation network in a report by VIGINUM, a French intelligence service unit.
Many posts shared a blog article and a podcast episode featuring Ms Ellis describing her transition while serving part-time in the Virginia Army National Guard.
She also discussed her helicopter pilot course and her 15-year experience in the same unit.
Ms Ellis responded to the false claims by sharing a "proof of life" video post and a text post on Facebook on January 31.
"This is Jo Ellis, I am a Black Hawk pilot with Virginia Army National Guard," she said in the video.
"I understand some people have associated me with ... the crash in DC, and that is false.
"It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don't deserve that, I don't deserve this, and I hope that you all know that I am alive and well."
A Virginia National Guard spokesperson told Reuters none of their personnel were aboard the army helicopter involved in the Washington crash.
Another Facebook post shared a photo of retired US Major General Jeannie M Leavitt, falsely claiming it depicted Jo Ellis
General Leavitt became the US Air Force's first female fighter pilot in 1993 and later served as the Air Force chief of safety.
The photo shared in the deceptive posts actually shows the now-retired pilot in a cockpit before her final flight on August 3, 2023.
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