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The Army has identified two of the three soldiers aboard the Fort Belvoir-based Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines passenger jet over the Potomac River on Jan. 29, 2025.
Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, is believed to have died, pending positive identification, the Army announced Friday. One of the bodies recovered after the crash appeared to be his.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, was also identified as a member of the helicopter crew. His body and that of the third soldier had not been located. The Army withheld the third crew member’s name at the family’s request.
The soldiers belonged to the 12th Aviation Battalion at Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir. They were conducting a training mission when their helicopter collided shortly before 9 p.m. with American Airlines Flight 5342, which was approaching Reagan National Airport.
The Bombardier CRJ700 had departed Wichita, Kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew members. Officials believed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft died.
By Thursday night, search crews had recovered 41 bodies from the Potomac. Recovery operations continued alongside a National Transportation Safety Board investigation involving the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies.
Maj. Gen. Trevor J. Bredenkamp, commander of the Army Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, offered condolences to the victims’ relatives and friends. He said the Army’s priorities were assisting recovery crews and cooperating fully with investigators seeking the cause of the collision.
Soldiers had years of aviation service
Eaves served in the Navy from August 2007 until September 2017 before joining the regular Army as a UH-60 pilot. His military honors included three Army Commendation Medals, a Navy Commendation Medal, an Army Achievement Medal, three Navy Achievement Medals and the Army Aviator Badge, among other awards.
O’Hara joined the regular Army in July 2014 as a UH-60 helicopter repairer and deployed to Afghanistan from March through August 2017. His honors included two Army Commendation Medals—one with a “C” device—four Army Achievement Medals, three Army Good Conduct Medals, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with a campaign star, an Aviation Badge and a Senior Aviation Badge.
O’Hara served as the helicopter’s crew chief and regularly participated in nighttime flights. On the morning of the collision, he texted about a new assignment that would have moved him closer to his family in Georgia, according to his father, Gary O’Hara.
His father said the most recent photographs he had of his son came from Ryan O’Hara’s visit to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly.
Eaves’ wife, Carrie, confirmed in a Facebook post that her husband had been aboard the helicopter. Friends and Fort Belvoir neighbors organized a Meal Train campaign for the family that had raised $5,200, with volunteers also offering meals.
The campaign described flying and military service as Eaves’ dream and passion, noting his decade as a Navy air crew member and more than seven years as an Army warrant officer flying Black Hawks.
The American Airlines passengers included members of the figure skating community as well as three Fairfax County Public Schools students and their parents.