The young figure skaters whose lives were cut tragically short when an American Airlines flight collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday night were just beginning their journeys to stardom.

A figure skating coach with ties to the Harford County area was among the 64 passengers onboard a plane that collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River in Washington D.

Members of the U.S. figure skating community were traveling on the commercial jet that collided with a military helicopter outside Washington. They were returning from a training camp in Kansas.