Mom Says Coach Who Died in D.C. Plane Crash Treated Clients 'Like Family' — Now Hopefully She's Watching Over Them (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Rachelle Piro says “the best day” her daughter Sienna ever had with skating coachInna Volyanskayawas not longbefore the Washington, D.C., plane crashthat killed Volyanskaya and 66 other people.

On Monday, Jan. 20, Piro picked up Volyanskaya for one last lesson with 8-year-old Sienna before dropping off the coach at the airportto head to Witchita, Kan.,for the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

“Now I see what a gift this is,” Piro tells PEOPLE.

Nine days later, Volyanskayawas killed along with 63 otherson American Airlines Flight 5342 when it collided over the Potomac River with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter while preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The three soldiers on the helicopter, who were on a training mission at the time, died as well. The crash remains under investigation.

According toU.S. Figure Skating, Volyanskay was on the plane with some of the members of the Washington Figure Skating Club whom she was coaching, includingEverly LivingstonandFranco Aparicio. She was a former pairs skater for the Soviet Union who performed across the globe, even playing Ariel in Disney on Ice’s rendition ofThe Little Mermaidbefore becoming a coach in 2002.

From left: Inna Volyanskaya and Sienna Piro.Courtesy of Rachelle Piro

Courtesy of Rachelle Piro

Piro — who moved last year from New York City to Ashburn, Va., with her three kids so Sienna could train with Volyanskaya — says the 59-year-old coach treated the skaters “like family.”

“She wasn’t just a coach,” Piro says. “There’s a lot of coaches, you go take your lesson and you leave. Inna was not like that.”

Sienna began staking when she was 3 years old after begging her mom, who as a Tennessee native didn’t grow up around the sport.

Her daughter told her, “You don’t believe in my dreams," Piro recalls.

Piro responded, “Okay, you really want this? Let’s do it.”

But at the time, Piro says, “a lot of coaches wouldn’t take her,” claiming she wasn’t talented. Eventually, a friend told her about Volyanskaya.

Piro says Sienna excelled thanks to Volyanskaya: “She’s already working on her double axel. She got all her double jumps in six months with Inna.”

“‘My soulmate coach’ is what she called her,” Piro adds.

Their bond was so special that Piro and her husband, Dan, who still lives in New York City but travels back and forth to Virginia, had Volyanskaya and other victims' names added to a special black jacket Sienna wears for people in her life who have died.

“She wouldn’t get on the ice,” she shares. “My husband found a stitching place locally. … They ended up doing it the same day for her.”

Along with golden wings on the black, the jacket now has “Team Inna Volyanskaya” and the names of her young friends who died are on the sleeves.

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A large portion of the damaged plane fuselage is lifted from the Potomac River during recovery efforts after the American Airlines crash on February 03, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Chip Somodevilla/Getty

That allowed Sienna to get back in the rink.

But in some way, Piro hopes Volyanskaya is looking after her daughter and the others who are still following their skating dreams.

“I hope she’s watching after all of the skaters that she left behind," she says. “It’s not just Sienna. They’re all hurting.”

source: people.com