Washington DC (Special to ZennieReport.com) – Wednesday January 29th started off as a joyful one for members of the United States Figure Skating Community that boarded American Airlines Flight 5342 in Wichita, Kansas. They just attended the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that weekend, and were on the way back home. Then, their flight American Airlines 5342, a CRJ-700 Canadair Regional Jet commonly called a “puddle-jumper” was hit in middair by a U.S. Army Blackhawk Helicopter. There were no survivors reported.
Last night, America speculated that someone important was on the American Airlines plane, and now we’re slowly learning that was true, because the plane carried members who have made significant contributions to world culture: those from the United States Figure Skating Community.
According to Karen Lee on Twitter or X, “Ice skating coaches and 1994 world pairs champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on plane that collided with a Black Hawk chopper in Washington DC. Their son Maxim Naumov had competed at US figure skating championship in Wichita but was not on board!”
Reports are that Maxim Naumov has returned to Boston earlier and was not on American Airlines 5342. His parents were reported to have said or written “WE ARE PROUD OF YOU, SON”. Here’s their legendary skating performance that is part of world history:
And here’s their son’s performance in Wichita at Skate America last weekend:
In sad addition to the loss World Champion Figure Skating pair, Evgenia Shishkova & Vadim Naumov, the flight also took the lives of Spencer Lane, Everly Livingston, and Franco Aparicio.
Russia Today on Twitter is reporting “Evgenia Shishkova & Vadim Naumov were traveling back from a National Development Camp in Kansas with America’s top young figure skaters on Flight 5342 These are photos of several of the victims – 14 died in total, as well as several coaches”.
Other Victims Of The Army Helicopter Crash Into American Airlines Flight 5342
This section of this post will expand as the list of identified victims grows, but here’s what Zennie62Media has learned to date and time: Matthew Craig Engel: Identified as one of the victims of the crash. He was 33 years old. Posts on X indicate he was among those confirmed deceased by rescue teams. Christian Pack: Another passenger named in X posts, aged 24. He was reported to have left behind one child.
Other victims include four members of the UA Steamfiters Local 602 (no names listed at this point in time):
This Post Will Update As More Information Becomes Available: Zennie62Media Sends Condolences To The Families
The President of the United States is holding a press conference at 11 AM EST or about 19 minutes from now. Here is the original video livestream reporting the incident: