Ice skating champions are among youngest victims of Washington DC plane crash

All 67 people involved died in the tragic event.

As reported by the Delaware News Journal, dance partners Angela Yang and Sean Kay were on the fateful flight back from the US Figure Skating Championships and National Development Camp in Wichita, Kansas.

They died when the American Airlines flight they were on collided with a US Army helicopter in mid-air, close to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were their plane was scheduled to land moments later.

Yang and Kay were killed alongside their coach, Alexandr Kirsanov, his wife confirmed to the local news outlet.

"We have Angela Yang/Sean Kay & Zoe Stone/Jerry Stone heading to Wichita for National Development Camp with Emmanuel Savary competing in the Championship Men event," the club said on January 21.

Yang shared several pictures from her time in Wichita just hours before the doomed flight.

"Had so so much fun at camp!!! I'm really gonna miss my friends and all the great coaches! I can't wait for next year!" she said.

"It was a lot of fun watching all the skaters at Kansas! I had a lot of fun sitting with my friends watching amazing skaters! I wish I could watch it all over again!"

The duo won first place in several categories in the 2025 Midwestern Sectional Singles & U.S. Ice Dance in Plano, Texas, in November.

Yang celebrated the results on Instagram, captioning her post: "I am so happy with our results at our first finals together!"

US Figure Skating confirmed that several skaters, coaches and their family members were on board the flight, and had been returning home from the National Development Camp, which is held in conjunction with the national championships. 

"We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available," the sport governing body said in a statement.

U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C. These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National…

— U.S. Figure Skating (@USFigureSkating) January 30, 2025

Two teenage figure skaters, their mothers, and two former world champions who were coaching at a historic Boston club were also among the 14 members of the skating community killed.  

Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe said Thursday that skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane were among those killed, along with 1994 pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia.

Footage shared online shows a PSA Airlines jet operating as American Airlines 5342 colliding with a US Army helicopter as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport at 9pm local time.

The passenger plane broke into multiple pieces and sunk several feet into the river, while the helicopter ended up upside down on the water, according to local reports.

A passenger plane and helicopter have collided in the skies above Washington DC.

A web camera shot from the Kennedy Center showed a flash of light mid-air across the Potomac River around 8.47pm local time.https://t.co/giM6v2ky4J pic.twitter.com/LNGGlWLSIF

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 30, 2025

The plane, a Bombardier CRJ700, departed from Wichita, Kansas and was carrying 60 passengers and four crew, American Airlines said.

The Pentagon said the helicopter involved was a Sikorsky H-60 that took off from Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

Three US soldiers were on board, Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said.

LiveATC.net has released live audio of the final moments of communication between air traffic control and the helicopter, which it refers to as PAT25.

“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller said at 8.47 p.m.

Moments later, a different aircraft called in: “Tower, did you see that?”

“Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three,” one of the air traffic controllers can be heard saying.

“I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach into 33. We’re going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future,” another says.

“Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river,” a third can be heard saying.

“It was probably out in the middle of the river,” the controller said. “I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit.”