BROOKFIELD, Wis. — A midair collision between an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport left 67 people dead on Wednesday night.
The flight had 60 passengers and four crew members, while the helicopter was occupied by three soldiers. Among those killed were several U.S. Figure Skating members.
These tough losses have the ice skating community shaken up across the country, including in Wisconsin.
The day after the catastrophic crash, Brookfield resident Nadaya Malhotra brought her son to Ebel Park Ice Arena.
“My son is learning ice skating and knowing that there were ice skaters on the plane makes me feel really sad about what happened. Extra sad,” Malhotra said.
She finds the sport to be beautiful and hopes her son finds success in it.
“He seems to love it, too. Today’s his first time and he’s observing this young lady and he’s trying to copy her.”
Malhotra was referring to Kayla Boehranger, who’s been skating since she was about 8-years-old. When she first heard about the plane crash, she did not know there were skaters aboard the flight.
“And then I kind of read more into it and realized that there were a lot figure skaters, a lot of coaches on the plane, which is just terrible. You know, figure skaters already have to go through enough as is,” Boehranger said.
She and so many others in the skating community are hurting right now. Spectrum News reached out to other skating groups and clubs in the state to get their reactions.
Fond du Lac Blades, a synchronized U.S. skating team that is currently in Michigan and France preparing for competition this weekend said the following:
“US Figure Skating is such a tight community that a tragedy like this affects all of us. As we represent TEAM USA this weekend at the French Cup, we are dedicating our long program to the victims.”