A mourning widow who lost her husband on flight 5342 of the American Airlines when it crashed in Washington DC has revealed that they made a spontaneous decision about who would be on the flight.
Natalya Gudin and her husband Alexandr Kirsanov coached two young figure skaters, but only one of them would accompany the couple to Kansas for the national development camp for figure skating.
Her husband was the one who finally made the journey alongside the two children, who all lost their lives in the collision in the air.
Gudin said with ABC News: 'I lost everything. I lost my husband. I lost my students. I lost my friends. '
Gudin last spoke with her husband on Wednesday afternoon when he was at the gate at the airport in Wichita, Kansas.
Kirsanov said to her: “It's time to get in,” before he made a plan to talk again as soon as he had touched Reagan National Airport – but the call never came.
Gudin told the outlet that she later heard from the mother of one of the other figure skaters about the crash and she traveled to the capital in the hope of good news.
On Thursday morning she discovered that her husband and their students had died, after officials said that their rescue mission was now a matter of recovery.
Natalya Gudin and her husband Alexandr Kirsanov, seen here, coached two young figure skaters and had to decide who would accompany them to Kansas for the National Development Camp for figure skating
Gudin last spoke with her husband on Wednesday afternoon when he was at the gate at the airport in Wichita, Kansas
The plane of the American Airlines hit a Black Hawk helicopter of the US Army when it came on the land on Reagan National Airport on Wednesday on Wednesday.
The plane collided with a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars riding on highways that swing along the airport and poured against the river.
Sixty -four people – 60 passengers and four crew members – were on board and all died, officials said.
Three soldiers had been to the helicopter at the time of the incident and had been on a training mission that it did not make it either.
According to DC Fire Chief John Donnelly, at least 28 bodies have been found.
The pilots of the American Eagle Jet were Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and first officer Samuel Lilley, Dailymail.com exclusively revealed.
And both flight attendants that were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.
The two young people with whom Kirsanov had traveled were dance partners Angela Yang and Sean Kay.
Kirsanov, to be seen here in a photo from 2004, was the one who finally made the journey alongside the two children, who all lost their lives in the collision in the air
Sean Kay and his skating partner Angela Yang died on the flight of the American Airlines with their coach Alexandr Kirsanov (photo LR: Angela, Alexandr, Sean)
They were members of the art skating club of the University of Delaware, according to reports on social media of the organization.
Yang shared different photos of her time in Wichita only a few hours before the doomed flight.
'Had so much fun in the camp !!! I'm really going to miss my friends and all the great coaches! I can't wait for next year! “She said.
'It was very nice to view all the skaters in Kansas! I had a lot of fun with my friends who watched great skaters! I wish I could view it all the way again! '
The duo won first place in different categories in the 2025 Midwestern sectional singles & US Ice Dance in Plano, Texas, in November.
Yang wore a beautiful pink sequin dress while she skates in the final of the youth dance.
Noodenenities respond after a passenger plane collided with a helicopter in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport
She celebrated the results on Instagram and subtitled her post: “I am so happy with our results at our first final together!”
American figure skating confirmed that various skaters, coaches and their family members were and had returned from the National Development Camp, which is held in collaboration with the National Championships.
'We have been destroyed by this ineffable tragedy and keep the families of the victims closely in our hearts. We will continue to follow the situation and release more information as it becomes available, “said the sports management body in a statement.
A provisional report has said that the airport staff at the airport 'was not normal for the time of the day and traffic volume.
Chronic understaffing at Air Traffic Control Towers is nothing new, with only 19 working at DC in 2023 – but the report thought it was complicated that night.
FAA manager Mike Whitaker resigned the day before Donald Trump took office, well before the end of his five -year period that started in October 2023 – which means that there was no head of the federal agency when the terror unfolded last night.
Whitaker often crashed with SpaceX owner Elon Musk about the supervision of the FAA of Rocket -Lancings -who called him in September to resign from his frustrations with compliance with FAA paper work and safety and environmental problems.
President Trump spent most of his 11 -hour press conference with the fault of the assumed Dei programs at the FAA for the crash – before appointing Christopher Rocheleau as acting head of the agency.
