Married figure skating champions. A student returning to college after attending a funeral. A lawyer heading home from a work trip on her birthday. Members of a steamfitters union. A 28-year-old airline officer engaged to be married in the fall. Three members of a military helicopter crew.
Wednesday night’s crash between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk in Washington D.C. is believed to have spared none of the disparate lives on board both aircraft when they collided – including 60 airline passengers and four crew members.
They were parents, coaches, professionals, teenage athletes, soldiers and children.
The deaths came after the passenger jet was preparing to land shortly before 9 p.m. at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after flying from Wichita, Kansas. An air traffic controller sought to guide the helicopter around the incoming plane.
