U.S. Figure Skating confirms that athletes, coaches, and family members were on American Airlines Flight 5342 that crashed in D.C.

[Sylvia]

The Daily Beast (Jan. 30): Viral Figure Skater Sets Record Straight on Missed Flight
A report claimed Jon Maravilla’s dog being too big kept him off the doomed American Airlines flight. In reality, it kept him from boarding a plane bound for Atlanta.

Viral Figure Skater Sets Record Straight on Missed Flight

A report claimed Jon Maravilla’s dog being too big kept him off the doomed American Airlines flight. In reality, it kept him from boarding a plane bound for Atlanta.

www.thedailybeast.com

A figure skater said to have a ticket on Wednesday’s doomed American Airlines flight was actually bound for another city entirely, he tells the Daily Beast, contrary to a viral report online.
Jon Maravilla said his dog’s size was the reason a gate agent denied him boarding for a flight on Delta Air Lines to Atlanta—not to the nation’s capital.
That contradicts what Russian media wrote about the tragedy. RIA Novosti reported Maravilla was informed his dog could not be carried on a flight from Wichita to Washington because of size restrictions. Unable to board the plane, the outlet reported that he departed by car.

Maravilla is a native of Virginia, he told the Daily Beast, but now lives in the midwest. He said he was catching a flight to Atlanta before connecting on a second flight to Detroit. He said he did not know where the false reports about boarding a flight to Washington came from, but said he was devastated by the fate of his friends.
“I still can’t believe it,” he said. “I was just with them watching them have lots of fun and just enjoying their time.”
Maravilla documented his rejection from boarding his Detroit flight in his Instagram stories. He posted an image from inside Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport with the caption: “Not allowed past gate to board flight. Get me out of Kansas, please.”
He posted a second image once he began driving later, stating he had a 14 hour ride ahead of him.

After calls to people on board weren’t going through, he said he called one skater’s sister around 9:20 p.m.—about 40 minutes after the collision. She was already in tears, he said, and that’s the moment he knew her brother, mom, and dad were on the doomed flight.
Maravilla said his 17-year-old brother, who’s also a skater, had taken the tragedy especially hard. He had just spent the week training and performing with many of the victims, and had even swapped jackets with Spencer Lane, who’s confirmed as one of the dead, before they parted ways in Wichita.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said that Maravilla was reportedly due to fly on American Airlines Flight 5342.

 

[livetoskate]

Going a bit off topic, but I'm surprised Jon M. was able to rent a car and drove so far by himself. He is only 19, almost 20. He was stranded at the airport. So I wonder why his parents weren't with him. Maybe I am too much of a helicopter parent. Glad he got home safely.

 

[livetoskate]

Condolences to the friends and family also of Edward Zhou and his parents. My friend's friend's daughter went to elementary school with him, and another friend of that daughter went to school with Edward at Woodson High School. I think that is the same school Michael Weiss went to. TSL is doing a wonderful job remembering the skaters and coaches.

The Skating Lesson on Instagram: "Edward Zhou, 16, Fairfax, Virginia, was tiny when he first learned how to skate, but he was fearless and unafraid of trying anything new. It has been said that his coaches loved coaching him because he always smiled

5,702 likes, 80 comments - theskatinglesson on January 30, 2025: "Edward Zhou, 16, Fairfax, Virginia, was tiny when he first learned how to skate, but he was fearless and unafraid of trying anything new. It has been said that his coaches loved coaching him because he always smiled and laughed...

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

Going a bit off topic, but I'm surprised Jon M. was able to rent a car and drove so far by himself. He is only 19, almost 20.

It is my understanding that Jon had a parent with him. His younger brother, Juan Carlos, is an Intermediate ice dancer who attended the camp after Nationals, as mentioned in the article excerpt above..

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

This was in my feed on the gram, so sad. We will never forget them.

Midori Majo on Instagram: "Anyone that is near him; pass on hugs from all of us. He has lost his parents and his coaches. He took a flight home on Monday. I pray he continues to love skating and strive to compete in the US Olympics for his Coaches …

6,626 likes, 318 comments - greenwitch_gathered_goods on January 30, 2025: "Anyone that is near him; pass on hugs from all of us. He has lost his parents and his coaches. He took a flight home on Monday. I pray he continues to love skating and strive to compete in the US Olympics for his Coaches...

www.instagram.com

 

[Firedancer]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1885528900127907867

 

[tangerine dream]

Came across this fundraiser for the Aparicio family that I don't think has been posted here yet.

Meal Train for Supporting the Aparicio Family in Their Time of Loss

Dear Friends, The figure skating community is sad to share the heartbreaking loss of Franco and his devoted father, Luciano, who were on board American Airlines Flight 5342. They leave behind a grieving mother and wife, Barbara, as well as two loving daughters and sisters, Isabella and...

www.mealtrain.com

 

[Maofan7]

Horrendous news. Condolences. RIP

 

[BittyBug]

"We Can't Just Let This Break Us" Boston Globe article on The Skating Club of Boston, with quotes from Olga Ganicheva, Jimmy Ma and the Club's director, Doug Zeghibe.

‘We can’t just let this break us’ Skating Club of Boston mourns skaters, parents, coaches killed in D.C. plane crash - The Boston Globe

A collective grief over the death of two young skaters and their mothers and two distinguished coaches has left the club reeling.

www.bostonglobe.com

Usually, Ganicheva scans the chairs in the locker room area without a second thought. But on Friday, she could’t help but notice that two seats in the locker room — and two in the coaches room — were empty. “I came in here at 6 a.m., saying ‘I’m not going to cry, I have to be strong, to show an example to the skaters,” she said. “But when I saw those chairs … it just crushed me.”

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” said Jimmy Ma, 29, a skater at the club who said he knew the victims. “You think you’ve gotten over it, but then you see that wall of flowers.”

 

[zebobes]

The NY Times has been writing beautiful pieces in memory of the families.

My heart goes out to Mr. Strid, I can’t imagine the shock of losing three of his students all in one go.

A Boy, His Parents and a Sudden Void in Fairfax

Kaiyan Mao and Yu Zhou “were always there” as their son pursued his figure skating dreams. On Wednesday, the family flew together from Wichita to Washington.

www.nytimes.com

 

[livetoskate]

The NY Times has been writing beautiful pieces in memory of the families.

My heart goes out to Mr. Strid, I can’t imagine the shock of losing three of his students all in one go.

A Boy, His Parents and a Sudden Void in Fairfax

Kaiyan Mao and Yu Zhou “were always there” as their son pursued his figure skating dreams. On Wednesday, the family flew together from Wichita to Washington.

www.nytimes.com

Thanks for the article. It brought tears to my eyes. Here's another article that focuses on Edward with lots of quotes from his Spanish teacher. A friend of mine is an adult skater who skates, along with her daughter, also at Fairfax Ice Arena. My heart goes out to coach Kalle Strid and everyone who knew the skaters, coaches & parents.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article299531154.html

 

[flyingsit]

The NY Times has been writing beautiful pieces in memory of the families.

My heart goes out to Mr. Strid, I can’t imagine the shock of losing three of his students all in one go.

A Boy, His Parents and a Sudden Void in Fairfax

Kaiyan Mao and Yu Zhou “were always there” as their son pursued his figure skating dreams. On Wednesday, the family flew together from Wichita to Washington.

www.nytimes.com

This piece broke me.

 

[ice coverage]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1885528900127907867

More about the U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund:

In a comment on his own post, Nathan Chen says:

"In partnership with the ‘22 [Olympic] team, an anonymous donor is matching up to $22,000 in donations to the fund. Thank you for your support "​

Nathan's post has a message from the entire 2022 U.S. Olympic team for figure skating, with handwritten signatures from each member (ETA: other teammates are posting the same message too):

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFiULNmOXRt/​

USFigureSkatingSupport.org redirects to:

U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund

secure.qgiv.com

The GoFundMe "umbrella" page for the plane crash has links to verified GFM pages for individual families.

Regarding skating, the umbrella page (so far) includes pages in support of families of: Brielle Beyer and mother Justyna; Franco Aparicio and father Luciano; Sasha Kirsanov*; Olivia Eve Ter and mother Olesya.​

ETA: The umbrella page has added a link to a page in support of the family of Angela Yang and mother Lily.​

How to Help: DC Plane Crash

You can donate to verified fundraisers on this page for the people and families affected by the DC plane crash

www.gofundme.com

* The page "In Memory of Alexandr Kirsanov and the Victims of AA5342" also is in support of the family of a hockey dad who was lost on the flight.
Another GoFundMe page for Sasha's family is: "Remembering Sasha Kirsanov: In Our Hearts Always." I think it already was posted on FSU earlier. https://www.gofundme.com/f/remembering-sasha-in-our-hearts-always​

 

[marshallpond]

The NY Times has been writing beautiful pieces in memory of the families.

My heart goes out to Mr. Strid, I can’t imagine the shock of losing three of his students all in one go.

A Boy, His Parents and a Sudden Void in Fairfax

Kaiyan Mao and Yu Zhou “were always there” as their son pursued his figure skating dreams. On Wednesday, the family flew together from Wichita to Washington.

www.nytimes.com

Kalle rushed to Reagan Airport when he heard about the crash, and he was at the staging area the whole night, together with Brielle's dad. Kalle left the camp on Tuesday because he needed to prepare things for his wedding next week.

This article hit me really hard as Kaiyan is my best friend, in and out of skating. I last saw Kaiyan at the hotpot dinner with some boys at the camp and their parents (see Spencer Lane's Instagram photos) Tuesday night. When I first heard of the explosion, I called Kaiyan but it went to voice mail. Sent her a text but no response. Kalle called me at midnight asking for contact info of the relatives of the Zhou's as authorities needed to contact relatives.

The hardest part of this tragedy is losing the people you have personally known and cherished for years.

 

[Barbara Manatee]

It is a blessing that Worlds will bring the skating community together to mourn with the people most hurt by the tragedy. But I don't know how the SCOB can bear to host it now. I know they will, I just can't imagine how they get through it.

 

[Sylvia]

From Tommy Steenberg's post on Facebook & Instagram earlier in this thread:

"I am also sending love to my former student, Emily Haynos, who lost her younger brother, Cory, and both of her parents, Stephanie and Roger."​

Posted on Thursday:

My heart goes out to Emily. I called her when I couldn't get hold of Stephanie or Roger, and her cries were just heartbreaking. She has not arrived in VA yet but will be traveling soon.

"Cory and his parents are survived by his sister, Emily, who was away at college." https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/...rents-among-victims-of-potomac-crash/3832953/

The First Baptist Church of Kingstowne (Alexandria, VA) has posted this: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFeQ4Gtxa34/

With permission, we are designating our church Benevolence Fund to the Haynos Family and all funds donated as indicated below will go directly to the family for the expenses associated with their arrangements.

There are multiple ways to give:
1. You may give directly through our website here: https://fbckingstowne.churchcenter.com/giving. Please select the Haynos Family Bereavement Fund [in the drop down menu] to designate your donation.

2. We have also set up a special text-to-give link for your convenience. Simply text any dollar amount followed by the word Haynos to 84321. Example: 20 Haynos

3. You can mail a donation directly to our church, with the Haynos Family marked on the Memo line of a check, to: 7313 Hayfield Road, Alexandria, VA 22315

 

[Sylvia]

Michelle Kwan just posted on her Instagram:

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

Link: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/usfigureskatingfoundation/event/usfigureskatingfund/

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I know this has been discussed, but not sure if this story from us weekly has been posted ….. what a strange feeling this must be.

U.S. Skater Clarifies Report Dog Stopped Him From Boarding Fatal D.C. Flight — Us Weekly

American figure skater Jon Maravilla is addressing reports that he was supposed to be on the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter.

apple.news

 

[PRlady]

Fairfax Ice Arena is close to my daughter’s house and that’s where I took my first lessons. I used to watch the kids practicing with awe and even jealousy for those who started young and were so talented.

I’m so sorry for your loss @marshallpond

 

[Sylvia]

Olga Ganicheva and Aleksey Letov lost their student, Jinna Han, and her mother, on AA flight #5342 and shared this video tribute:

𝐎𝐥𝐠𝐚 𝐆𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐯𝐚 & 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐤𝐬𝐞𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐯 on Instagram: "We knew your beauty for a moment but hold your memory for a lifetime. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #lovethemforeverandalways • We will always miss you Jinna and Jin"

8,780 likes, 261 comments - olgalexcoaching on January 30, 2025: "We knew your beauty for a moment but hold your memory for a lifetime. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #lovethemforeverandalways • We will always miss you Jinna and Jin".

www.instagram.com

2025 Eastern Sectional Intermediate Men's podium - only one (smallest one on the left) of the 4 survived :

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

GOLD Spencer Lane, SC of Boston, coached by Shishkova & Naumov
SILVER Eric Lei, SC of Boston (not on the plane)
BRONZE Cory Haynos, SC of Northern Virginia, coached by Kalle Strid (flew home earlier from the camp) & Mikael Olofsson
PEWTER Franco Aparicio, Washington FSC, coached by Inna Volyanskaya

 

[Sylvia]

Johnny Weir's tribute to Inna Volyanskaya (includes a clip of them doing a forward spiral together at the SC of Wilmington's rink):

JOHNNY WEIR on Instagram: "1.February.2025 Inna Vitalyevna Volyanskaya Inna was one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. We met in the early 2000’s when I was training alongside her daughter Masha under the tutelage of Tatiana Anatolievna Tarasova.

johnnygweir on February 1, 2025: "1.February.2025 Inna Vitalyevna Volyanskaya Inna was one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. We met in the early 2000’s when I was training alongside her daughter Masha under the tutelage of Tatiana Anatolievna Tarasova. She had the sweetest, softest and...

www.instagram.com

 

[flyingsit]

Fairfax Ice Arena is close to my daughter’s house and that’s where I took my first lessons. I used to watch the kids practicing with awe and even jealousy for those who started young and were so talented.

I’m so sorry for your loss @marshallpond

Fairfax was my rink and SCNV was my club.

 

[Debbie S]

I remember Edward from the Chesapeake Open. I monitored his events a couple of times, he won the Intermediate SP trophy (top scorers in the men's and women's events) in 2022. Cory Haynos was last year's men's winner. Everly Livingston, also on the plane, was the Int Women's winner. Each year, we show the winners the big trophy that we display (winners get smaller take-home trophies) and tell them when they come back next year, they'll see their name engraved on it.

 

[Moto Guzzi]

Fairfax Ice Arena is close to my daughter’s house and that’s where I took my first lessons. I used to watch the kids practicing with awe and even jealousy for those who started young and were so talented.

I’m so sorry for your loss @marshallpond

I learned to skate at Fairfax Ice Arena as an adult. Within a year, I was a member of the SC of Northern VA and later joined the Washington FSC as well. When Inna Volyanskaya started coaching at Fairfax, I didn't have a coach at the time. She was willing to teach me on our Monday night club session that was mostly adult skaters, and I thought she was a wonderful coach. I've had coaches that didn't seem that interested in teaching an adult, but I never felt that way with Inna. My first lesson included simple forward stroking but with arm movements from some of her Disney on Ice routines. I was sorry when she left Fairfax but glad I had had the opportunity to have lessons with her. RIP Inna.

 

[marshallpond]

GoFundMe has put together the verified fundraisers for victims of the American Airlines explosion, though not all of them are skaters https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/help-dc-plane-crash#/

 

[Sylvia]

The latest verified GoFundMe for a figure skater and her mother (since @ice coverage's post earlier today, quoted below) is titled "In Loving Memory of Lily Li and Angela Yang" (Yang/Sean Kay, both 11, were the Juvenile Dance champions):

The GoFundMe "umbrella" page for the plane crash has links to verified GFM pages for individual families.

Regarding skating, the umbrella page (so far) includes pages in support of families of: Brielle Beyer and mother Justyna; Franco Aparicio and father Luciano; Sasha Kirsanov*; Olivia Eve Ter and mother Olesya.​

How to Help: DC Plane Crash

You can donate to verified fundraisers on this page for the people and families affected by the DC plane crash

www.gofundme.com

​

(*The page "In Memory of Alexandr Kirsanov and the Victims of AA5342" also is in support of the family of a hockey dad who was a victim.​

Another GoFundMe page for Sasha [started by married coaches at the Univ. of DE rink] is: "Remembering Sasha Kirsanov: In Our Hearts Always." https://www.gofundme.com/f/remembering-sasha-in-our-hearts-always )​

 

[Vash01]

NYT article about young skater and his parents

One Family Lost in the D.C. Plane Crash

Kaiyan Mao and Yu Zhou “were always there” as their son pursued his figure skating dreams. On Wednesday, the family flew together from Wichita to Washington.

www.nytimes.com

 

[YukiNieve]

The First Baptist Church of Kingstowne (Alexandria, VA) has posted this: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFeQ4Gtxa34/

Thank you, Sylvia. It must be especially hard for Emily to be left alone.

As someone who recently lost a family member and have been dealing with it, I cannot imagine doing this alone for the rest of the family. I just can't.

 

[Wyliefan]

I'm sorry for your loss, @YukiNieve.

 

[YukiNieve]

Thanks, Wyliefan. Mine is nothing compared to this tragedy.