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Twenty-eight members of the U.S. and broader figure-skating community were among the 64 people aboard American Airlines Flight 5342 on January 29, 2025. The passengers included young skaters, parents, coaches and former world champions returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and a development camp in Wichita, Kansas. The PSA Airlines-operated regional jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing everyone aboard both aircraft—67 people in total.
They were not all members of one U.S. national team. They were part of a close network of skating clubs, families and coaches whose lives were connected through training and competition.
What happened to Flight 5342?
American Airlines Flight 5342, also referred to as American Eagle Flight 5342, was flying from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on the evening of January 29, 2025. The flight was marketed by American Airlines but operated by PSA Airlines using a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries RJ Aviation/Bombardier CRJ700, registration N709PS.
At approximately 8:48 p.m. Eastern time, the CRJ700 collided in midair with a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter operating under the callsign PAT25. The collision occurred roughly half a mile southeast of Reagan National. Both aircraft struck the Potomac River area and were destroyed.
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| Passenger aircraft | PSA Airlines-operated CRJ700, marketed as American Airlines/American Eagle Flight 5342 |
|---|---|
| Airliner route | Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport |
| People aboard the airliner | 60 passengers and four crew members |
| Helicopter | U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk, callsign PAT25 |
| Total fatalities | 67: all 64 people on the airliner and all three helicopter crewmembers |
| Date | January 29, 2025 |
Source note: The aircraft, flight and casualty details are based on the National Transportation Safety Board’s final report and official remembrance material from U.S. Figure Skating.
Why were so many skaters and skating families on the flight?
The passengers were returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita and an associated national high-performance development camp. The camp offered promising young skaters the chance to train alongside elite coaches and receive instruction as they developed their competitive careers.
The group reflected how figure skating actually operates away from the spotlight. Young athletes often travel with parents, train through local clubs and work with specialized coaches. The people aboard Flight 5342 represented clubs and skating programs in Massachusetts, Virginia and Delaware, as well as prominent figures from the sport’s international history.
U.S. Figure Skating later identified 28 members of the skating community among those lost. That description is more accurate than calling them a single team: the group included athletes, relatives, coaches and other members of the U.S. and international skating community.
The skating community members identified in official remembrance accounts
U.S. Figure Skating’s remembrance material organized the victims by club and relationship. The following accounts preserve that structure rather than treating the passengers as an undifferentiated roster.
The Skating Club of Boston
The Skating Club of Boston lost young skaters Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, Han’s mother Jin Hee Han, and the internationally accomplished coaching couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
Lane was 16. He had begun taking skating seriously only a few years earlier but progressed unusually quickly. He had been working toward difficult elements including the triple Axel and quad Salchow and qualified for the Wichita development camp through Eastern Sectionals.
Han, 13, was remembered as a technically gifted skater with strong triple jumps and an expressive style. Her mother, Jin Hee Han, was part of the skating community not only as a parent but also as a devoted supporter of her daughter’s training and club life.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallShishkova and Naumov were Russian-born pairs skaters, two-time Olympians and the 1994 World pairs champions. After their competitive careers, they built a coaching life in the United States. Their son, Maxim Naumov, was also a competitive U.S. skater and survived them. He later skated in tribute to his parents.
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ION Figure Skating Club
Olivia Eve Ter and her mother, Olesya Taylor, represented ION Figure Skating Club. Ter was 12 and had qualified for the development camp after placing fourth at Eastern Sectionals.
Their inclusion illustrates the family dimension of the trip: young skaters attended a high-level training opportunity with parents who made the travel and competition possible.
Washington Figure Skating Club
The Washington Figure Skating Club group included sisters Everly Livingston and Alydia Livingston, their parents Donna Livingston and Peter Livingston, coach Inna Volyanskaya, and skater Franco Aparicio with his father, Luciano Aparicio.
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Volyanskaya was a coach within the club community. Aparicio traveled with his father, another example of the parent-and-athlete relationships that shaped the Wichita group.
Skating Club of Northern Virginia
The Skating Club of Northern Virginia lost young skaters Edward “Eddie” Zhou, Brielle Beyer and Cory Haynos. The three were coached within the club’s Nova Vikings group. Accompanying parents associated with the trip were also among those lost.
The club’s remembrance emphasized the athletes’ shared training environment and the everyday relationships built at the rink. They were not simply competitors who happened to be on the same flight; they were young skaters connected through coaching, practice and club life.
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University of Delaware Figure Skating Club
The University of Delaware Figure Skating Club group included ice-dance coach Alexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, his students Angela Yang and Sean Kay, and Yang’s mother, Zheheng “Lily” Li.
Kirsanov had previously competed in ice dance and coached multiple teams. Yang and Kay were an undefeated juvenile ice-dance partnership during the 2024–25 season, according to the official account. Their group showed another side of skating’s structure: developing athletes depend on specialized coaches, while parents often travel alongside them.
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What did the NTSB determine caused the collision?
The National Transportation Safety Board completed and adopted its final report in January 2026. Its probable-cause finding did not reduce the crash to one pilot’s mistake. Instead, the Board described a chain of regulatory, operational, human-performance and system-design failures.
A helicopter route placed too close to the airport approach
The NTSB identified the Federal Aviation Administration’s placement of a helicopter route close to the runway approach path as a central factor. The Board also found that the FAA did not regularly review the route’s risk adequately or act on earlier recommendations intended to reduce the danger.
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That finding matters because the collision was not treated as an unforeseeable encounter between two aircraft. The route structure brought helicopter traffic into an area used by arriving airliners, creating a recurring hazard that required effective separation, clear advisories and reliable risk controls.
Visual separation and traffic control broke down
The Board found that the helicopter crew’s pilot-applied visual separation was ineffective. It also found loss of situation awareness and degraded performance in the Reagan National airport traffic-control tower.
The tower was handling helicopter and local-control duties together, creating high workload. The NTSB cited inadequate traffic advisories and the absence of safety alerts to both crews. The air-traffic system also relied too heavily on “see and avoid,” without adequately accounting for the practical limits of visual separation at night and in a busy airport environment.
The helicopter flew above the published route altitude
The Army was faulted for failing to ensure that its pilots understood the tolerances and potential errors associated with barometric altimeters. That failure contributed to the helicopter operating above the published altitude for its route.
Altitude deviation alone does not explain the entire crash, but it reduced the margin available in an already hazardous traffic arrangement. The NTSB treated it as one part of the broader sequence rather than as a complete explanation.
Collision-alerting systems could not fully compensate
The NTSB also examined the traffic-alert and collision-avoidance systems on both aircraft. The CRJ700’s traffic-alert system functioned as designed, but altitude limitations prevented it from issuing a higher-level resolution advisory that might have provided maneuvering instructions.
In other words, the airliner’s system did not simply fail to operate. It operated within its design parameters, but those parameters limited the warning and guidance available in this encounter. The Board identified limitations in the alerting systems on both aircraft as an additional contributing factor.
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Airport traffic and staffing pressures added risk
Additional contributing factors included an unsustainable arrival rate and a changing mix of aircraft at Reagan National. Airline scheduling practices also strained the airport traffic-control workforce. Separate radio frequencies for helicopter and airplane operations created additional communication risks because important traffic information was not necessarily heard by everyone involved.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsTaken together, the final report portrays a system in which route design, workload, communication, altitude management, visual separation and alerting technology failed to provide adequate protection against a known type of conflict.
How many recommendations did the NTSB issue?
As of July 27, 2026, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the Board had issued 75 findings and 50 safety recommendations related to the investigation and its safety work. She also warned that many recommendations remained open.
That status is time-sensitive. Recommendation totals and their open or closed status may change, so this figure should be checked against the NTSB’s current records if the article is updated after August 12, 2026.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the figure-skating community remembered those lost
Legacy on Ice
On March 2, 2025, prominent past and present skaters gathered in Washington for Legacy on Ice, a memorial event that raised approximately $1.2 million for affected families, first responders and U.S. Figure Skating.
The event gave the skating world a way to respond collectively while also directing practical support toward people affected by the crash. It was part memorial performance, part fundraising effort and part public expression of the community’s loss.
Tributes at the 2026 U.S. Championships
The remembrance continued at the 2026 U.S. Championships. U.S. Figure Skating reported that skaters dedicated performances to friends, teammates and coaches who had died.
- Patrick Blackwell honored Spencer Lane.
- Sophie Joline von Felten paid tribute to friends including Jinna Han.
- Sofia Bezkorovainaya honored Everly Livingston.
- Maxim Naumov later skated in honor of his parents, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
These tributes kept the focus on relationships rather than only on medals or rankings. The people lost were athletes with developing futures, parents who supported them, coaches who shaped their careers, and longtime members of local skating communities.
A respectful way to understand the loss
The most accurate description is that 28 members of the U.S. and broader figure-skating community were aboard Flight 5342—not that an entire national team was on the aircraft. The group’s connection came from a shared trip to championships and high-performance training, but their identities extended well beyond competition.
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They belonged to clubs, families and coaching networks that are central to how figure skating is practiced in the United States. That is why the crash reverberated through rinks across the country: it took young athletes, parents and coaches who traveled, trained and supported one another as part of the same community.
Readers seeking a respectful way to remember those lost or help the skating world can consult the official U.S. Figure Skating remembrance and support resources. Any current memorial, family-support or fundraising information should be confirmed through the organization’s official channels.
Sources: National Transportation Safety Board final investigative findings adopted in January 2026; U.S. Figure Skating remembrance coverage; U.S. Figure Skating reporting on the 2026 Championships tributes; and reporting on the Legacy on Ice memorial event.
Frequently Asked Questions
Were all of the skating-related passengers members of the U.S. national figure-skating team?
No. U.S. Figure Skating identified 28 members of the U.S. and broader figure-skating community. They included young athletes, parents, coaches and former international champions connected to several clubs and programs.
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All 64 people aboard the PSA Airlines-operated CRJ700 died: 60 passengers and four crew members. The three crewmembers aboard the Army Black Hawk also died, bringing the total to 67.
Did American Airlines operate the aircraft directly?
The flight was marketed as American Airlines Flight 5342 or American Eagle Flight 5342, but PSA Airlines operated the CRJ700, registration N709PS.
What did the NTSB say caused the collision?
The NTSB found a combination of systemic failures, including a helicopter route close to the runway approach, insufficient FAA risk review, ineffective visual separation, tower workload and situation-awareness problems, inadequate traffic advisories, altitude-management issues, alerting-system limitations and communication risks.
The Bottom Line
The January 29, 2025 collision near Reagan National killed 67 people, including 28 members of a connected figure-skating community. The victims were not one uniform team but a network of young skaters, parents, coaches and former champions returning from Wichita. The NTSB’s final findings point to failures across the aviation system, while memorial performances and support efforts continue to preserve the community’s memory.
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