A friend of a family of four who died in the American Airlines Flight 5342 crash has shared the final photos she received from them.
The photos, taken before takeoff by Donna Livingston on Wednesday, Jan. 29, show her daughters — Everly, 14, and Alydia, 11 — as well as herself and husband Peter. Both girls can be seen smiling in their seats in one photo, while another photo is a selfie of the parents in their seats.
Jin Ah Longerbeam got the photos from Donna before a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with their plane, according to The New York Post.
The family was traveling home to Virginia from Wichita, Kan., after Everly and Alydia had attended an ice skating camp for young Olympic hopefuls.
A friend of a family of four who died in the American Airlines Flight 5342 crash has shared the final photos she received from them.
The photos, taken before takeoff by Donna Livingston on Wednesday, Jan. 29, show her daughters — Everly, 14, and Alydia, 11 — as well as herself and husband Peter. Both girls can be seen smiling in their seats in one photo, while another photo is a selfie of the parents in their seats.
Jin Ah Longerbeam got the photos from Donna before a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with their plane, according to The New York Post.
The family was traveling home to Virginia from Wichita, Kan., after Everly and Alydia had attended an ice skating camp for young Olympic hopefuls.
Longerbeam described the girls as “my little babies” in a tearful statement to ABC News on Jan. 31, noting she had known them since they were little.
Her son, Wolfe Jin, who was a friend and skating teammate of the girls, also spoke to the outlet, saying, “Everly and Alydia were two of the brightest people at our rink. The community looked up to them.”
Wolfe and his mother say they drove to Reagan National Airport after news broke of the crash in the hopes that the family had survived, bringing coats for the girls in case they were cold.
“[Wolfe] kept saying, ‘They’re gonna be cold … [we have to make] sure they’re warm,’ ” the mother recalled.
Ted Boyke, another friend of the family, exclusively told PEOPLE that the girls’ father, Peter, “put his family first,” adding that his daughters were “everything to him.” Boyke recalled that Peter was the “type of guy who would come up with a wild plan” and then “go out and achieve it.”
He shared that Peter built an ice skating rink for his daughter in their backyard.
“He was known for every winter [for] putting down a tarp, boarding it off, pouring water into an ice rink that would freeze in the Virginia winters, and his daughters would practice there,” he told PEOPLE. “During COVID, they were able to practice that way when the ice rinks were closed temporarily.”
The fatal plane crash — which had no survivors — occurred when the American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in mid-air. There were a total of 67 fatalities, including 60 flight passengers, four crew members as well as three soldiers who were on board the helicopter.
As of Friday, Jan 31, the remains of 41 victims had been recovered, and 28 of those victims have been positively identified.
Passengers on the plane included parents and children, flight attendants, and a group of adult friends returning from a hunting trip.
While the cause of the crash is unknown, aviation experts suspect that the Army helicopter did not see the plane before the deadly collision.
“I guarantee it was basically pilot error,” an active duty Army helicopter pilot, who did not want to be identified, previously told PEOPLE.
