Passengers on the jet that collided with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night included a group of figure skaters and their parents and coaches with ties to Massachusetts.Doug Zeghibe, CEO and executive director of the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts, said 14 members of the U.S. Figure Skating community, six of whom are affiliated with the club, were on the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. Skater Spencer Lane, 16, and his mother, Christine, skater Jinna Han, 16, and her mother, Jin, and coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the plane."Skating is a very close and tightknit community. These kids and their parents -- they are here at our skating facility in Norwood six, sometimes seven days a week. It is a close, tight bond, and I think for all of us, we have lost family," Zeghibe said.Zeghibe said Spencer was a "highly-talented kid" who was "rocketing to the top of the sport," and Jinna was a "wonderful kid, great athlete, great competitor" who was loved by all. Zeghibe said their mothers were "role-model parents" who were dedicated to their children's sport.Shishkova and Naumov won the pairs title at the 1994 World Championships and competed at the Winter Olympics twice. Their son, Maxim Naumov, who was not on the plane, is a competitive figure skater for the U.S. "This will have long-reaching impacts for our skating community," Zeghibe said. "The (coaches) came to us in 2017 and were very much a part of our building the competitive skating program here at the Skating Club of Boston."The group was returning from the National Development Camp which which took place after the U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas, and was scheduled to board a connecting flight from from Reagan to Boston on Wednesday night.The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash happened at 8:48 p.m. when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita collided with the military helicopter on a training flight while on approach to an airport runway.During a morning news conference, officials said they have moved from a rescue operations to a recovery operation, as they believe no one survived the crash.It's not the first time tragedy has struck the Skating Club. In 1961, a flight carrying 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team to compete in the world championships in Prague crashed as it was trying to land in Brussels.All 73 people aboard the plane died, including 16-year-old Laurence Owen, of Winchester, Massachusetts, known as "America's Queen of the Ice.""Almost half of everyone aboard that plane were from (the Skating Club)," Zeghibe said. "It had long-reaching implications for the Skating Club and for the sport in this country, because when you lose coaches like this, you lose the future of the sport, as well."The Skating Club of Boston is hosting the World Championships in March.
NORWOOD, Mass. — Passengers on the jet that collided with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night included a group of figure skaters and their parents and coaches with ties to Massachusetts.
Doug Zeghibe, CEO and executive director of the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts, said 14 members of the U.S. Figure Skating community, six of whom are affiliated with the club, were on the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.
Hearst OwnedAP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi
Winning pair Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia perform during free skating in the pairs event of the NHK Trophy International Figure Skating Competition at Nagoya central Japan, Saturday, Dec. 9, 1995. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Skater Spencer Lane, 16, and his mother, Christine, skater Jinna Han, 16, and her mother, Jin, and coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the plane.
"Skating is a very close and tightknit community. These kids and their parents -- they are here at our skating facility in Norwood six, sometimes seven days a week. It is a close, tight bond, and I think for all of us, we have lost family," Zeghibe said.
Zeghibe said Spencer was a "highly-talented kid" who was "rocketing to the top of the sport," and Jinna was a "wonderful kid, great athlete, great competitor" who was loved by all. Zeghibe said their mothers were "role-model parents" who were dedicated to their children's sport.
Shishkova and Naumov won the pairs title at the 1994 World Championships and competed at the Winter Olympics twice. Their son, Maxim Naumov, who was not on the plane, is a competitive figure skater for the U.S.
"This will have long-reaching impacts for our skating community," Zeghibe said. "The (coaches) came to us in 2017 and were very much a part of our building the competitive skating program here at the Skating Club of Boston."
The group was returning from the National Development Camp which which took place after the U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas, and was scheduled to board a connecting flight from from Reagan to Boston on Wednesday night.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash happened at 8:48 p.m. when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita collided with the military helicopter on a training flight while on approach to an airport runway.
During a morning news conference, officials said they have moved from a rescue operations to a recovery operation, as they believe no one survived the crash.
It's not the first time tragedy has struck the Skating Club. In 1961, a flight carrying 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team to compete in the world championships in Prague crashed as it was trying to land in Brussels.
All 73 people aboard the plane died, including 16-year-old Laurence Owen, of Winchester, Massachusetts, known as "America's Queen of the Ice."
"Almost half of everyone aboard that plane were from (the Skating Club)," Zeghibe said. "It had long-reaching implications for the Skating Club and for the sport in this country, because when you lose coaches like this, you lose the future of the sport, as well."
The Skating Club of Boston is hosting the World Championships in March.
