Footage shot from a plane taking off from Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 23 shows two Black Hawk helicopters flying alongside a passenger plane. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft involved in the deadly collision were on a “standard flight pattern.”

Mikey Stovall, a steamfitter in Maryland who was on American Eagle Flight 5342 with seven of his friends, was someone who "loves everybody," his mother, Christina Stovall, told NBC Washington in a tearful interview.

Stovall, 40, and his friends were returning from a duck hunting trip in Kansas. He was on his way back home to spend time with his wife off 11 years and his 11-year-old son, with plans to go on a snowboarding trip the next day.

"When they told him about Daddy, he said, 'Are we still going snowboarding tomorrow?'" Christina Stovall said, describing her grandson's difficulty grasping the reality that his father was dead.

Mikey Stovall, she said, was someone who "from when he was little ... loves everybody." She added that he was "very family-oriented" and loved hunting and fishing with his son.

One woman who was killed in the crash, Elizabeth Keys, an attorney, died on her birthday, her partner has said.

Keys had just turned 33 when she was killed in the collision, her life partner, David Seidman, whom she met at Georgetown Law School, told The Washington Post.

Seidman described Keys as someone with a sharp sense of humor who enjoyed playing the saxophone, the oboe and the bassoon in her spare time. “She was someone who always, always, managed to have fun,” Seidman said. “No matter what she was doing."

Keys had been returning home from a work trip to Wichita, he said, adding that the couple had plans to celebrate both their birthdays, just days apart, over the weekend.

“It’s hard to imagine the hole that Liz left will ever be filled,” Seidman said. “She was such a star.”

Lori Schrock, 56, and her husband, Robert “Bob” Schrock, 58, are among those who died in the midair collision Wednesday.

The Schrocks lived in Kiowa, Kansas, about 90 miles southwest of Wichita near the Oklahoma border, where Bob Schrock was a farmer.

They were traveling from Wichita to Washington en route to see their daughter Ellie Schrock, a junior at Villanova University in Philadelphia.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Ellie Schrock said she was excited about seeing her parents this week and knew their flight number before she saw the tragic news on television.

A day before the deadly crash over the Potomac River, another flight en route to Reagan Washington National Airport had to avoid landing and go around due to helicopter traffic, according to air traffic control audio from LiveATC.net.

Republic Airways Flight 4514 reported having to make a go-around, when an aircrew decide not to continue a landing, on its way to the airport a day before the deadly crash.

Asked what the reason was for the go around, the pilot reported: "We had an RA with the helicopter traffic below us."

RA refers to a resolution advisory, an emergency code used when an aircraft is told to perform a manoeuvre intended to provide separation from threats, or to maintain existing separation.

The jet landed safely at the airport at 8:11 p.m. local time that night, according to FlightAware.

Former Olympic figure skating medalist Dorothy Hamill spoke about the figure skaters who lost their lives in the midair collision in Washington, D.C.

“It’s tragic. I knew the coaches, I skated with them, and the camp that the youngsters were attending ... they’re the future,” Hamill said.

Hamill said that the crash was reminiscent of the 1961 plane crash, where all 18 members of the U.S. Figure Skating Team heading from New York on Sabena Flight 548 to the World Championships in Prague crashed on approach in Brussels.

“These youngsters were our future of figure skating. So it’s going to take a long time to rebuild that,” the former Olympian added.

At least three and possibly a fourth of the victims of the D.C. midair plane collision had Russian passports, Russia's Foreign Ministry has said.

Among them were former world champions in pair skating on the Russian national team — Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — as well as the Soviet figure skater Inna Volyanskaya, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement today.

She added that a fourth person "could have had a Russian passport," but that officials were still seeking clarity on that. Zakharova said Russia was not yet receiving "detailed answers" from the U.S. on questions regarding the crash.

The Russian Figure Skating Federation said it was "shocked and deeply saddened by the tragedy," noting that some of the victims "were our compatriots and made a significant contribution to Russian figure skating back in the day."

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he was “devastated” to hear the news that at least three Delawareans — Sasha Kirsanov, Sean Kay and Angela Yang — had died in the plane collision.

“Sasha Kirsanov, Sean Kay, and Angela Yang went to Wichita to pursue their passion for figure skating. It is a tragedy that none of them returned home to our state,” he said last evening in X.

“My heart goes out to Sasha’s wife Natalia, the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, and every other Delawarean touched by the three of them,” he added.

Nancy Kerrigan stepped to the microphone at The Boston Skating Club in Norwood, Massachusetts, visibly shaken. 

Just hours earlier, she had heard the news of Wednesday night’s tragedy.

Six of the victims were affiliated with the Boston club: two coaches, two skaters and two mothers, according to CEO Doug Zeghibe. He said the group was returning home from the National Development Camp associated with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

Kerrigan, a two-time Olympic figure skating medalist and alum of the club, spoke with tears running down her face.Read the full story here.