Recovery efforts continue in the Potomac River near Alexandria, Va., in the morning of Thursday, Jan. 30 following a passenger jet with 64 people aboard collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter above Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 29, 2025. © Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
(Washington, D.C) — We are starting to learn the names of the 67 killed in the crash between that American Airlines flight and a Blackhawk helicopter in D.C. Fourteen of them were figure skaters. Some of the were being trained in Boston by skating legend, Nancy Kerrigan. One of those skaters was 16-year-old Spencer Lane, who’s family says they adopted him from South Korea. He only began training to be a world class level skater three years ago. His mother was with him on the plane.
Ian Epstein was a flight attendant on the doomed aircraft. His family says he was a cherished father, husband, and brother. Elizabeth Keys was a lawyer who lived in D.C. She caught the flight home, to get home early to go on a date for her birthday with her long-term boyfriend. Samuel Lilley was the first officer onboard the American Airlines Flight. He had recently got engaged.
Crews are back out on the Potomac searching for more bodies. 40 of the 67 victims have been found.
The FAA and the NTSB says they will work hard to figure out who was at fault for the Wednesday night crash. Divers have found the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the American Airlines plane.
