Haunting final photos inside doomed DC plane reveal young ice skating sisters and their parents

Haunting last photos aboard the doomed American Airlines formation to Washington DC showed a brace of Olympic-hopeful ice-skating sisters posing for pictures snapped by their arrogant parents. 

Everly Livingston, 14, and her younger sister Alydia, 11, were beaming arsenic they headed backmost to the superior aft an ice-skating improvement campy successful Kansas, alongside their parents, Donna and Peter. 

In caller images revealed days aft the American Airlines pitchy collided with a US subject Blackhawk chopper arsenic it landed astatine Reagan International Airport on Wednesday night. 

The family-of-four were among 67 victims who died successful the tragedy, which saw nary survivors. 

Donna Livingston reportedly sent the last images of her daughters to chap US figure-skating squad parent Jin Ah Longerbeam, who said the Livinstons were similar household to her. 

'They were my small babies,' she tearfully said of Everly and Alydia to ABC News, describing their parents arsenic 'really vivacious people.' 

'They supported their girls’ dreams,' she said. 'We did everything we tin to effort to marque our kids dreams travel true, and they did it each azygous infinitesimal and each azygous day. 

Longerbeam said she and her household had known the Livingstons since the girls were 'little rugrats', and that they called her lad Wolfe Jin a brother. 

'Everly and Alydia were 2 of the brightest radical astatine our rink,' Wolfe said. 'The assemblage looked up to them.' 

'It’s bittersweet to spot them person to spell retired similar this due to the fact that I cognize that their futures were truthful promising,' helium added, saying they were known arsenic promising ice-skating stars with dreams of representing the US astatine the highest levels.  

Jin Ah added that the household didn't often question altogether for the girls' crystal skating trips but did connected their fateful last travel backmost from Kansas. 

Wolfe heartbreakingly revealed that helium was astatine location successful Virginia erstwhile helium heard quality of the crash, and drove to the clang tract successful the Potomac River with his ma successful hopes that his friends could person been saved. 

He said helium brought lukewarm jackets for the girls due to the fact that helium thought they would beryllium acold if they were rescued alive. 

'He kept saying, "They’re gonna beryllium cold… (we person to make) definite they’re warm",' Jin Ah said. 

It comes arsenic scrutiny has present fallen connected how the shocking level clang unfolded implicit 1 of the busiest airspaces successful America, with a fig of officials describing it arsenic 'preventable.'

Among the errors included that an aerial postulation controller was reportedly allowed to permission their station aboriginal conscionable earlier American Airlines Flight 5342 collided successful midair with a subject helicopter.

After the staffer left, 1 aerial postulation controller was near to grip some chopper postulation and negociate planes - which should person been a divided work - according to The New York Times.

Those tasks are usually handled betwixt 2 radical from 10am until 9:30 pm, according to the report. After then, the duties are typically combined and near to 1 idiosyncratic arsenic the airdrome sees little postulation aboriginal successful the night.

A supervisor reportedly decided to harvester those duties earlier the scheduled cutoff clip however, and allowed 1 aerial postulation controller to permission enactment early.

It has besides emerged that the Army helicopter, which was carrying 3 soldiers, progressive successful the collision might person besides deviated from its approved formation path.

The outlet again spoke with insiders that said the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk chopper was not connected its approved way and flying higher than it should person been.

Reagan National has been understaffed for galore years, with conscionable 19 afloat certified controllers arsenic of September 2023 - good beneath the people of 30 - according to the astir caller Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress. 

On Thursday morning, officials confirmed each 67 connected some the level and chopper had perished, with their rescue ngo past becoming a betterment operation.

Investigators made a interruption done aboriginal that night, aft they had pulled 40 bodies to shore, erstwhile they recovered 2 achromatic boxes from the American Airlines flight.

A formation information recorder and cockpit dependable recorder were pulled from the stream by salvage teams.

This volition beryllium of monumental assistance to authorities arsenic they analyse what precisely happened successful the moments starring to disaster.