Families of the 67 people who died in an aircraft collision last January gathered on Wednesday evening to mark the first anniversary, just one day after investigators testified about years of ignored warnings and near-misses.
Families of the 67 people who died in an aircraft collision last January gathered on Wednesday evening to mark the first anniversary, just one day after investigators testified about years of ignored warnings and near-misses.
Family members and politicians spoke Wednesday throughout the music-filled ceremony honoring the victims who died when an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29, 2025, outside of Washington, D.C., marking the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since 2001.
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“While we were powerless in that moment to help our loved ones, we were not powerless to help each other,” said Doug Lane, husband of Christine Conrad Lane, 49, and father of aspiring figure skater Spencer Lane, 16, who died in the crash. “So that’s what we did, and that’s what we’ve done ever since.”
The audience packed the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington.
Everyone aboard the helicopter and jet — flying from Wichita, Kansas — died when the two aircrafts collided and plummeted into the icy Potomac River.
