Those killed in the collision between the American Carriers Fly and the Armed Forces helicopter included high school figure skaters returning from a national meet with their mothers and coaches, an Ohio college student arriving from her grandfather’s memorial service and a group of saddlers returning from a guided trip in Kansas. They were among 60 passengers and four team members aboard the commercial flight late Wednesday (Jan. 30, 2025) when it collided with the dark pedal helicopter carrying three soldiers. Officials say no one survived. The helicopter apparently got in the way of the American Carriers Territorial Flight late Wednesday as it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airplane Terminal, just up the stream from Washington, after which at least 28 bodies were pulled from the cold waters of the Potomac Stream, President Donald Trump said at a White House news conference. No one survived, President Donald Trump said at a White House news conference. “We are currently at the point where we are turning from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital. The search for remains continued Thursday, as communities mourned. Faith leaders held a vigil in the city’s Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. “We can only get through this situation together,” said the Rev. Pamela Hughes Artisan of Wichita’s St. Paul AME Church. American Aircraft has set up hotlines and centers in Washington and Wichita to solicit information about people who may have been on the crashed plane. The hotline can be reached at 1-800 679 8215. Here’s what we know about those killed in Wednesday night’s crash: Skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Path were among those killed, according to Doug Zeghibey, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston. Their mothers, Jin Han and Christine Path, as well as their coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, also died. Han and Path, who was nearly 16, were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. “We watched Jinna grow from a tiny little kid into a very accomplished 13-year-old,” he said. “A fantastic entertainer, a fantastic competitor and, off the ice, an extraordinary kid.” Spencer Path, who is from Barrington, Rhode Island, attended his first professional performance in December with Elin Shran’s company, Bliss Skate Productions. “He started to feel this connection with the audience and the joy that he was giving to other individuals through his blessings,” Shran said.
In a statement, the Path family praised Christine Path for both her gifts of solitude and her devotion to parenting.
“Christine sparked creativity throughout her life, using her formal realistic planning as a starting point for her clearly continuing imaginative interests in areas such as photography, knitting, weaving and more. She really brought more enthusiasm to her role as a mother to Spencer and his brother Milo,” the family said.
His coaches, Shishkova and Naumov, won the set title at the 1994 world championships in Chiba, Japan. The Russian-born also competed twice at the Olympics.
Skating organizations in Philadelphia and the Washington Range also said some of their young competitors were aboard the plane.
Many of the competitors on the plane had gone to a recovery camp held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships concluded Sunday in Wichita, Kansas.
Sean O’Reilly, head of the Wichita Skating Center, said the championships brought a “wave of positivity,” drawing excited parents and young competitors from across the U.S. He was “saddened” to learn that some of those skaters had been killed.
In Loudoun, Virginia, a coach from a skating club was also found to be among the passengers, Virginia Rep. Suhas Subramaniam confirmed. The club, Ashburn Ice House, said its “figure skating community has been directly impacted,” but did not provide details on the stimulus.
Cedarville College in Ohio said one of the passengers on the plane was Elegance Maxwell, a graduate student in mechanical engineering.
Maxwell’s father, Dignitary Maxwell, said she was returning to campus from her home in Wichita, Kansas, after attending her grandfather’s memorial service, the Kansas City Star reported.
Grace Maxwell was working on a project this semester to create a hand-stabilizing gadget to help an area boy nurture himself rather than rely on others, the college said in a statement.
“Grace was a quiet person with a strong interest in transforming others through engineering,” said Tim Norman, who served as her assistant adviser.
Three other students from schools in the Fairfax District, Virginia, and six parents from the area were also on the plane, administrator Michelle Reed said in a letter to families. She did not identify them, but she said the students
