Figure Skaters, Moms and an Engaged Pilot: What We Know About the D.C. Plane Crash Victims So Far

Mar. 15, 2025

Everly & Alydia Livingston; Kiah Duggins; Sam Lilley.Photo:Everly & Alydia Livingston/Instagram; Civil Rights Corps; Tim Lilley/Facebook

Everly & Alydia Livingston/Instagram; Civil Rights Corps; Tim Lilley/Facebook

As authorities search for answers about why an American Airlines regional passenger jetcollided mid-airwith a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, details about those who lost their lives in the tragedy are starting to emerge.

Just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29,American Airlines flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan., and the military aircraftcrashed into each other as the plane was preparing to land at Reagan National Airport, just outside of Washington, D.C.

The fiery crash sent both aircrafts plummeting into the Potomac River.

Emergency response teams including Washington, DC Fire and EMS, DC Police and others, respond to helicopter wreckage in the Potomac River on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Va.Andrew Harnik/Getty

Andrew Harnik/Getty

There were 64 people aboard the plane — 60 passengers and four crew members — and three soldiers on the helicopter. Officials have repeatedly said that they do not believe there are any survivors.

Here’s what we know about the victims so far:

Figure Skaters

Fourteen U.S.figure skaters, including six members of The Skating Club of Boston, were on the American Airlines plane, CEO Doug Zeghibe announced at a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 30.

Six of the victims were from The Skating Club of Boston: teensSpencer LaneandJinna Han; their mothersChristine Laneand Jin Han; andcoaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

“If I had to describe the general feeling around here, it is grief. We all just saw these folks on Sunday. We’re never going to see them again,” Zeghibe tells PEOPLE. “There’s definitely shock, but more grief."

Eugenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia.Chris Cole/ALLSPORT

Chris Cole/ALLSPORT

Spencer, 16, of Rhode Island, was remembered as an “incredibly talented” skater who only recently joined the sport and was already “rocketing to the top,” Zeghibe said at the news conference. Spencer was recently crowned2025 intermediate eastern sectionals championand shared aTikTok video of himself skating in Wichitajust hours before the crash.

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Meanwhile, Christine, his mom, was working to support her son, shuttling him to Massachusetts from Rhode Island and back to help him follow his dreams.

“We’re still in a state of shock,” Spencer’s grandfather, Wayne Conrad of Easton, Pa., tells PEOPLE. “They were greatly appreciated when we had them with us and [they] were lovely people."

Spencer Lane.Spencer Lane/Instagram

Spencer Lane/Instagram

Shishkova, 52, and Naumov, 55, were 1994 World Pairs’ Champions in figure skating. They joined The Skating Club of Boston in 2017 and were “very popular with families,” according to Zeghibe.

Cory Haynos, a 16-year-old Virginia skater, attended the Wichita development camp with his parents Roger and Stephanie, and landed a difficult triple axel in front of the scouts there, according toThe New York Times.

Also killed was Inna Volyanskaya, 59, who was a coach for Everly. Volyanskaya was a former pairs skater who competed for the Soviet Union, according toReuters, citing Russian news agency TASS.

Olivia Ter.U.S. Figure Skating/YouTube

U.S. Figure Skating/YouTube

Sasha Kirsanov.Stephen Dunn/Getty

Stephen Dunn/Getty

Former ice dancerAlexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, 46, who competed for the U.S., Azerbaijan and Russia before his retirement in 2004, was a coach and choreographer for the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club. He was on the flight accompanying ice-dancing pair Angela Yang and Sean Kay.

His wife Natalya Gudin co-coached the pair, but did not go to Wichita. “I lost everything. I lost my husband. I lost my students. I lost my friends,“Gudin told ABC News.

Vitali Kay, father to 11-year-old Sean and husband to Julia Kay, 42, another victim of the crash, toldCBS News Philadelphiathat he began to worry when he called his wife and “she didn’t pick up.”

Kay told theWashington Postthat each of their four kids, all ice skaters, were homeschooled so they would have time to focus on the sport.

Kansas Ties

In anemotional press conferenceon Thursday, Jan. 30, Wichita, Kan., Mayor Lily Wu said the city was grieving the loss of those who were killed in the crash.

“We have been told that there are no survivors,” Wu said. “We mourn with all those who have been impacted. This is a terrible tragedy that will unite those in Washington, D.C., and Wichita, Kansas, forever.”

Lily Wu, mayor of Wichita, Kan., expressed her condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the crash.NBC; Alex Wong/Getty

NBC; Alex Wong/Getty

Wu said the city did not yet know how many people from Wichita were on the flight.

On Thursday, the Wichita City Council hosted a prayer vigil at Wichita City Hall to mourn the victims of the crash.

Kiah Duggins.Civil Rights Corps

Civil Rights Corps

Kiah Duggins, a 30-year-old civil rights lawyer and former Miss Kansas contestant has been confirmed as one of the passengers killed in the crash.

“We are coming to terms with the grief associated with the loss of our beautiful and accomplished firstborn. Please respect our family’s privacy at this time,” her father Maurice told NPR affiliateKMUW.

Duggins graduated from Wichita East High School and Wichita State University before going on to earn a degree from Harvard Law School, where she served as president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, according to her profile on theCivil Rights Corps website.

Grace Maxwell.Grace Maxwell/Instagram

Grace Maxwell/Instagram

Grace Maxwell, a Cedarville University student, was returning back to school afterattending her grandfather’s funeralin Kansas, her father, Dean Maxwell, toldThe Wichita Eagle.

“As you can imagine, the past 24 hours have been very difficult for the Maxwell family and the Cedarville University community. As a university, we do not desire to turn this tragic event into anything more than a way to honor Grace, her family, and Jesus,” a university spokesperson said in a statement toNBC affiliate WLWT.

Dr. Tim Norman, who served as her secondary advisor, described Grace as a “quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering.”

Kansas residents Bob Schrock and his wife Lori were also killed in the crash, according toABC affiliate KOCO.

“We had more of a mentor-type relationship, taught me a lot on how to live. And we did that through the decade,” he said.

U.S. Army Soldiers

There were three soldiers aboard the Black Hawk helicopter who were killed in the crash.

During a press conference with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, Jan. 30, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided more information about the soldiers, saying they were a “young Captain, a staff Sergeant and a CW2 Chief Warrant Officer.”

(L-R) Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves; Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara.U.S. Army (2)

U.S. Army (2)

The three were on a routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for a Continuity of Government mission, he said.

The helicopter was from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out ofFort Belvoir, Va., Heather Chairez, a Joint Task Force North-National Capital Region spokesperson, told Military.com.

Flight Crew

“She was very bright, very smart.” added. “She was an entrepreneur. This flight attendant thing was kind of like one of her dreams she wanted to do.”

Union Members

Four members of the Plumbers, Pipefitters and Steamfitters Local 602 and one member of the Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 5 were also killed in the crash, union officials confirmed to PEOPLE in an email.

Union officials later confirmed their identities to PEOPLE as: Jesse Pitcher, 30, Charles “Charlie” McDaniel, 44, Jonathan D. Boyd, 40, Michael “Mikey” Stovall, 40, and Alexander “Alex” Huffman, 34 .

“The entire United Association is grateful to the first responders who worked tirelessly through the night, and who will continue to investigate what happened,” UA General President Mark McManus and UA Local 602 Business Manager wrote in a statement. “Our focus now is on providing support and care to the families of our brothers as we continue to gather more information in the coming days.”

“We are heartbroken to share that we have learned another one of our Brothers was among the victims of the American Airlines Flight 5342 crash yesterday,” Gasfitters Local 5 Business Manager Terriea “T” Smalls wrote in another statement. “We are continuing to provide support and relief to our members and their families, and we will share more information as it becomes available. May they all rest in peace.”

Students and Parents from Virginia

Students and parents from the Fairfax Public Schools in Virginia were on the plane that crashed in the Potomac, Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid said in an email shared with PEOPLE.

Many on the flight were returning from the figure skating event in Wichita, she wrote: “What we know at this time is that three of our FCPS students and six of our FCPS parents were lost, affecting multiple schools and departments here at FCPS.”

“Two of the parents were current or former FCPS staff members,” Reid added. “Multiplying the grief are the siblings, spouses, relatives, friends and colleagues who have lost loved ones.”

source: people.com