When American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a military helicopter Wednesday night and crashed into the Potomac River in Washington D.C., it took with it the future hopes of a sport.
The nearly full commercial flight originated in Wichita, flying the only nonstop route between the city and the nation’s capital. Among the 64 people onboard — 60 passengers, two pilots and two flight attendants — were members of the elite world of youth figure skating.
Three U.S. Army members were aboard the Black Hawk helicopter on what defense officials called a training flight.
There were no survivors.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash while D.C.-based emergency response crews work to recover the bodies of the victims. As of Friday afternoon, officials said the remains of 41 people had been removed from the crash site and that 28 people had been identified.
While officials work to confirm identities, families, friends and colleagues — particularly from the U.S. figure skating circuit — are speaking out about their lost loved ones in order to preserve their memory. More than 20 figure skaters, their parents and coaches have been identified as passengers on the flight. The number could grow.
The skaters were some of the highest performing youth athletes in their sport, fresh from a three-day development camp held in Wichita.
Since 2020, U.S. Figure Skating has used a series of national development camps to help identify blossoming talent among juvenile, intermediate and novice skaters, according to the sports body. The camps are invitation-only and based either on a skater’s performance at the national qualifying series, sectional and finals competitions, or insights from the sports body’s high-performance department.
Many of the skaters traveled to Wichita on Jan. 23 with their parents to watch the junior- and senior-level figure skaters compete in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Intrust Bank Arena.
That’s where Sam Wells, the skating director for the Wichita Ice Arena, met many of the athletes for the first time. Wells and other staff watched the competition from the section next to where camp skaters were watching. You could spot them in the crowd, wearing red jackets to denote their place on the development team. They ranged in age from about 9 to 17 years old, she said.
“From Thursday through Sunday, we watched these kids sit there and watch their idols and their faces light up every time a new skater took the ice,” Wells said. “[We saw] just how excited they were to be here and be a part of this.”
After the competition ended, the youth skaters attended a three-day camp at the Wichita Ice Arena. Here, Wells and other members of the Wichita ice skating community worked with skaters as they trained with some of the big names in the sport and their coaches.
“We got really close to them,” Wells said. “We made sure their skates were on when they needed to be on. We made sure they were fed, we made sure their tears were wiped, we made sure they were healthy and ready to go.”
In a program distributed by U.S. Figure Skating at the championships, former Team USA skater Yebin Mok, Olympians Chris Knierim, Ashley Cain and Kaitlin Hawayek were listed among the coaching staff.
Wells said about 160 skaters spent from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the arena training the first two days. She said classes covered a range of topics from jumps, spins, edge and dance classes.
Wednesday, the last day of the camp, was reserved for “elite programming” for “skaters who excelled during their respective sectional finals,” according to U.S. Figure Skating’s description of the schedule.
It was clear, Wells said, that many of these skaters were bound for great things.
“Some of these skaters haven’t even been skating that long, and they were bouncing triples off like it was nothing,” Wells said. “It was really amazing to watch.”
On Wednesday evening, Wells and the other staff with the camp said goodbye to the skaters as they got ready to fly back home to their skating clubs across the country.
When she awoke early Thursday morning and checked the news on her phone, her heart sank.
“I knew instantly,” she said. “It was absolutely devastating.”
U.S. Figure Skating confirmed in a media statement that “several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342,” who were returning from the championships and camp.
In the days since, Wells said she checks the news hourly to see whether new names have been added to the list of passengers lost in the Washington crash.
Coming back to the arena on Friday was hard as well, she said.
“I had tears in my eyes as soon as I opened the door,” Wells said. “It almost took my breath away being back in this facility. I mean these kids were all over this rink…It was very quiet when I walked in and just very sad.”
She said she’s sad for the loss of the skaters she grew so fond of and for the impact to the sport she loves.
“We will recover from this, but we'll never forget about it,” Wells said.
