Figure Skaters, Moms and an Engaged Pilot: What We Know About the D.C. Plane Crash Victims So Far
On Wednesday, Jan. 29, 64 people on a regional passenger plane and three soldiers on board a Black Hawk helicopter were involved in a deadly mid-air collision
PIERRE VERDY/AFP via Getty; Tim Lilley/Facebook; Everly & Alydia Livingston/Instagram
(L-R) Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov; Sam Lilley; Everly & Alydia LivingstonAn American Airlines plane collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C, on Wednesday, Jan. 29
Authorities the next morning said a search and rescue operation for the passengers on both flights had become a recovery operation
There were 60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines plane, and three soldiers on the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter
As authorities search for answers about why an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided mid-air with 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 aircraft crashed 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.
Andrew Harnik/Getty
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.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: teens Spencer Lane and Jinna Han; their mothers Christine Lane and Jin Han; and coaches 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."
Chris Cole/ALLSPORT
Eugenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of RussiaSpencer, 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 crowned 2025 intermediate eastern sectionals champion and shared a TikTok video of himself skating in Wichita just 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/Instagram
Spencer LaneJinna and Spencer were considered leaders by their peers, and both families were “very much embedded” in the local skating community. Jin, Jinna’s mom, was “one of the most wonderful, pleasant, polite” members of the club, supportive of both her daughter and other members of the club, Zeghibe said.
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 to The New York Times.
Related: U.S. Figure Skater Spencer Lane Eerily Posted Photo from Inside Plane Before Dying in D.C. Crash
Meanwhile, Sisters Everly and Alydia Livingston, 14 and 11, and their parents Donna and Peter of Ashburn, Va., are also among the victims. The girls were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club and often shared their routines on social media, including on Instagram, where they went by the handle, @ice_skating_sisters.
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 to Reuters, citing Russian news agency TASS.
U.S. Figure Skating/YouTube
Olivia TerOlivia Ter, 12, trained at the Tucker Road Ice Rink in Prince George's County, Md. and was hoping to land a spot on Team USA in the world championships when she was killed in the crash, according to CBS News affiliate WJZ-TV.
"Olivia not only excelled in figure skating programs but inspired others through her talent, determination and sportsmanship," Prince George's County Parks and Recreation said in a statement obtained by WJZ-TV. "Her passion for the sport and positive influence on her peers and coaches will not be forgotten."
Stephen Dunn/Getty
Sasha KirsanovFormer ice dancer Alexandr "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.
Kansas Natives
In an emotional press conference on 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.”
NBC; Alex Wong/Getty
Lily Wu, mayor of Wichita, Kan., expressed her condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the crashWu 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.
Civil Rights Corps
Kiah DugginsKiah 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 affiliate KMUW.
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 the Civil Rights Corps website.
Grace Maxwell/Instagram
Grace MaxwellGrace Maxwell, a Cedarville University student, was returning back to school after attending her grandfather's funeral in Kansas, her father, Dean Maxwell, told The 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 to NBC 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 to ABC affiliate KOCO.
Related: American Airlines Plane Will Have to Be Removed Before All Bodies Can Be Recovered: D.C. Authorities
Friend Michael Simpson told the outlet that he got to know Bob by lifting weights and that he became a role model.
"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.”
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty
Part of the wreckage of the crash were floating in the PotomacThe 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 of Fort Belvoir, Va., Heather Chairez, a Joint Task Force North-National Capital Region spokesperson, told Military.com.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has confirmed that one of the individuals aboard was Andrew Eaves.
"Mississippi is mourning the loss of Brooksville native Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, who was killed in last night’s accident at Reagan National Airport," Reeves wrote in a statement on social media.
Flight Crew
Ian Epstein was one of the flight attendants on board the American Airlines plane who died in the crash, according to a Facebook post shared by family. Those who knew him said the former Camping World employee “made everyone smile,” according to ABC affiliate WSOC-TV.
Danasia Elder was also a flight attendant on the jet. Speaking with WSOC-TV, her brother-in-law said she was “full of life,” and loved God, her two children and travel.
"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."
Sam Lilley, 28, has been identified as one of two pilots onboard the American Airlines flight, according to FOX affiliate WAGA-TV. His father Tim Lilley said in a Facebook post that his son, who was engaged to be married this coming fall, was the flight's First Officer.
Jonathan Campos, 34, of Ormond Beach, Fla., was the second pilot, according to his aunt, CBS affiliate WKMG-TV reported. His colleague told CNN that Campos became a captain for American Airlines in 2022.
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.
“We are devastated by the tragic news as we learn members of our FCPS community have lost their lives in the accident last night at Reagan National Airport,” Reid wrote.
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.”
-- Additional reporting by Juliet Pennington
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