Flight 5342: In Memoriam

This is a post I never predicted I would write, but I am compelled to write it before I can write about anything else.

I’d like to take the time to remember the 67 victims of the deadly mid-air collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the waters of the Potomac River in Washington, DC the evening of Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Flight 5342 originated in Wichita, Kansas and was preparing to land at Reagan National Airport. Among Flight 5342’s 60 passengers and 4 crew, almost half were members of the close-knit figure skating community here in the USA, returning from a competition and training camp. On the helicopter were three soldiers conducting a training mission in one of the busiest corridors for commercial, military, and government aviation in the country. In fact, according to news reports, at least one near miss between a commercial airliner and Army helicopter had occurred in the corridor before. There were no survivors of the collision and Flight 5342 became the first fatal crash of a US commercial airliner since 2009.

This tragic event hits home for me in two ways. First, as a member of the figure skating community who loves and practices the sport of figure skating, and second, as a native of Kansas, the state where I was born and raised, having lived there until I left for college.

As I was watching the news late Wednesday night, I learned that Flight 5342 originated in Wichita, Kansas. In that moment, a sickening, sinking feeling washed over me as I remembered that the 2025 United States Figure Skating Championships had just concluded there. It was quite possible that people from the figure skating community were aboard the flight, returning home after the competition. And then Thursday morning, I learned that horrific hunch was true.

For those of us in the figure skating community, thoughts of the victims and their families have been occupying a massive amount of space in our minds the past five days, as we go about our daily activities in a stupor of sadness. At the time I am writing this post, it is known that 28* people from the figure skating community perished in the crash, including 11 up and coming figure skaters aged 11 to 16; 4 coaches, two of whom were former world champions in pairs skating; and 13 parents traveling with their children. They represented four skating clubs in the USA: Washington Figure Skating Club, the Skating Club of Northern Virginia, the Skating Club of Boston, and the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club. They were returning from the elite, invitation-only US Figure Skating National Development Camp. The training camp, held in conjunction with the 2025 United States Figure Skating Championships, was for promising young skaters who demonstrated an aptitude for future greatness and success on the national and international stage. I’m touched by how the skaters’ parents on the flight supported their children until the very end, a most esteemed and noble act.

*For a complete list of the passengers from the skating community on Flight 5342, visit the following link on the Golden Skate website: https://www.goldenskate.com/figure-skating-community-mourns-loss-of-members-aboard-dc-plane-collision/

This isn’t the first time the US figure skating community has been struck by tragedy. In 1961, the US figure skating team was killed in a plane crash as they traveled to the world figure skating championships. Then, just like now, much of the sport’s future was decimated. I have no idea what awaits us after we die, but can only hope that the 1961 team was there to welcome the skaters as they passed from this life into whatever is next.

To learn more about the 1961 plane crash, visit the following link at the Denver Gazette: https://gazette.com/sports/u-s-figure-skating—remembering-the-team-that-perished-in-1961-plane-crash/article_40679270-df16-11ef-a131-fbb5411bb210.html

And as a Kansas native, I’m moved by the stories of three remarkable young women from the state. One a civil rights attorney with degrees from Wichita State University and Harvard University who recently accepted a faculty appointment in the law school at Howard University. Another a biology professor at Butler County Community College who was the newly elected president of the National Association of Biology Teachers and was traveling to DC to perform her first tasks in that leadership role. And yet another was a bright and intellectually curious engineering student at Cedarville University in Ohio. Indeed, each of these young women represents the very best of Kansas. They make me proud to say I grew up in the state.

I would like to acknowledge that while the media has been focusing much attention on the stories of the figure skaters, what some may claim is an inordinate amount, each person who perished in this tragedy has a story that deserves to be told, listened to, and remembered. To learn more about the passengers on Flight 5342 and the Army Black Hawk helicopter, visit this link on ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/US/dc-crash-victims-aboard-american-airlines-flight-5342/story?id=118250442

As I’ve gotten older, I have at times pondered about how much time I have left. This tragedy reminds me of the brevity of life and the finality of death, how all we really have is this moment. Rather than thinking and obsessing about what hasn’t yet unfolded, we should focus on today and those around us whom we care about the most. And if there is anything the inspiring young figure skaters can teach us, it is to use our moments in this life to pursue our dreams and do what makes us happy, no matter our age nor chapter of life we are in.