All 67 people on board the American Airlines regional jet and US Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided midair Wednesday night are presumed dead – a grim tragedy that has left a heartbreaking trail of mourning families in its wake.
The somber day will be remembered as the deadliest aviation disaster in the US since 2001.
As details of the disturbing catastrophe emerge and additional bodies are identified, the full weight and impact of the lives lost grows heavier. Here are some of the victims of the tragedy identified so far.
A little girl who just celebrated her 12th birthday and her mom
Just weeks ago, young figure skater Brielle Beyer celebrated her birthday with a sleepover party her mom, Justyna Magdalena Beyer, organized with a movie night, tents and a rainbow balloon arch.
The decorations are still up – but both mother and daughter, of Northern Virginia, were killed in Wednesday’s tragedy, leaving their family struggling to grapple with the enormity of their loss.
“I’m just so in shock right now,” Andy Beyer, Brielle’s dad and Justyna’s husband, told CNN. “There’s like a place in my mind that I can’t get near with all of the pain and grief. It’s like the door in my house to my daughter’s room – I just can’t go anywhere near it.”
Beyer fondly recalled a memory of Brielle choreographing her own skating routine and performing it on the rink when she was just 10. It was his favorite performance she ever did.
“She was just the sweetest girl,” he said, adding that his wife was always “pouring her heart out for her children.”
“Justyna did not do anything small for the kids, everything she did was big and it had to be special and beautiful and memorable. That was how she expressed herself as a mom.”
An ice skating rink manager said his tight-knit Northern Virginia figure skating community lost 14 members in the accident.
“Many children spend long hours here practicing daily, which means their parents spend long hours here, which means we get to know the families on a very intimate level,” Ashburn Ice House General Manager Rob Lorenzen said at a Friday news conference.
“This is such a terrible tragedy,” he said.
A mother and her young son
Julia Kay and her son, 11-year-old Sean Kay, leave behind a broken-hearted husband and father – and three other children – after they were killed in the horrific collision.
Vitali Kay and his wife, Julia, had been together for more than 20 years after meeting in college, he told CNN affiliate KYW. He described Julia as “full of energy.”
“The plane was supposed to land at 9, and I called my wife and she didn’t pick up,” he told KYW. “I thought maybe it was on airplane mode and she forgot to switch it off.”
Sean was an ice skater at the University of Delaware, his father told KYW. His coach and at least three other youth figure skaters were also killed.
Sean loved playing his guitar, even bringing it to a Metallica concert in Philadelphia last May, The Washington Post reported.
Kay told The Washington Post that Sean, who was a curious child, developed an interest in ice skating after his older sister began skating and he noticed there were cute girls involved in the sport.
A 28-year-old with ‘an adventurous spirit’
Melissa Jane Nicandri, 28, from New York, was “everything that anyone could hope for with a daughter,” her family told CNN in a statement confirming their unfathomable loss.
“We are devastated by the sudden loss of Melissa,” the Nicandri family said. “Melissa had an adventurous spirit and will be missed forever.”
Nicandri was “beautiful, smart, funny, kind and generous,” her family said, expressing their desire for space during their time of mourning.
“At just 28 years old, her life was tragically cut short,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement on X.
A flight attendant living ‘one of her dreams’
Flight attendant Danasia Elder, a mother of two, was one of the people killed in Wednesday’s midair collision, the Association of Flight Attendants-Communications Workers of America announced in a Facebook post.
She was based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and had been flying since last year, the union said. Her brother-in-law, Brandon Payne, told CNN affiliate WSOC that she was “a great wife, a great parent, a great friend.”
“She was very bright, very smart. She was an entrepreneur. This flight attendant thing was kind of like one of her dreams she wanted to do,” Payne said. “She would want y’all do the same thing she did. Chase your dreams, no matter what. Don’t let nothing scare you.”
