At least 14 members of the U.S. Figure Skating team were aboard American Airlines Flight 5342 when it collided mid-air with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C. The crash, which left no survivors, has devastated the skating community, with officials mourning the loss of promising young athletes and veteran coaches.
Among those on board were skaters Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, along with their mothers, Molly and Jin. Their coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were also passengers. Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston, described the tragedy as a “devastating loss,” saying, “Skating is a very close and tight-knit community. These kids and their parents—they are here at our skating facility six, sometimes seven days a week. It is a close, tight bond, and I think for all of us, we have lost family.”
Shishkova and Naumov, former world champion figure skaters, had been instrumental in training the next generation of U.S. athletes. Their son, Maxim Naumov, a competitive skater, was not on the flight. Zeghibe emphasized the impact of their loss, stating, “When you lose coaches like this, you lose the future of the sport.”
The team was returning from the National Development Camp in Wichita, Kansas, and was scheduled to connect to Boston from Reagan National Airport. This is the second time the U.S. Figure Skating community has faced a devastating aviation tragedy—18 skaters were killed in a 1961 plane crash en route to the World Championships in Prague. The investigation into this latest crash is ongoing.
