Chilling last photos show skating sisters Everly and Alydia Livingston smiling inside jet before DC crash

WASHINGTON, DC: A friend of the Livingston family has shared the last photos they took before their tragic deaths in the devastating American Airlines Flight 5342 crash. 

The images, captured just before takeoff on Wednesday, January 29, show Donna and Peter Livingston and their two daughters, Everly Livingston, 14, and Alydia Livingston, 11, smiling in their seats unaware it would be their final flight. 

Livingston family remembered by loved ones

The Livingston family was returning home to Virginia after Everly and Alydia attended an ice-skating camp for aspiring Olympians. Their close friend, Jin Ah Longerbeam, received the photos before the aircraft collided midair with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.

The crash killed all 67 people on board, including three soldiers in the helicopter, as reported by The New York Post.

Longerbeam, who had known the sisters since childhood, broke down in tears while speaking to ABC News, calling them "my little babies." Her son, Wolfe Jin, a fellow skater and close friend, recalled, "Everly and Alydia were two of the brightest people at our rink. The community looked up to them."

Upon hearing the news, Wolfe and his mother rushed to Reagan National Airport with coats in hand, hoping the family had survived. "Wolfe kept saying, 'They’re gonna be cold we have to make sure they’re warm,'" Longerbeam recalled.

Family friend Ted Boyke remembered Peter as a devoted father who always put his daughters first. "He built them a skating rink in their backyard," Boyke shared, explaining how Peter would flood a tarp-lined area each winter so his daughters could practice even during the Covid-19 lockdown when rinks were closed, as reported by People.

Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the collision, with early speculation pointing to pilot error. As of Friday, 41 victims had been recovered, and 28 had been identified.

Washington, DC plane crash deemed 'preventable', officials point to errors leading to the collision

The tragic midair collision over one of the busiest airspaces in the US has raised serious questions about the chain of events that led to the disaster. A number of officials are now describing the crash as "preventable," citing a series of errors that contributed to the catastrophe, as per Daily Mail.

One key factor identified in the investigation was the premature departure of an air traffic controller, leaving only one controller to manage both helicopter traffic and plane operations. Typically, these responsibilities are split between two controllers from 10 am to 9.30 pm.

As the Reagan National Airport sees less traffic later in the evening, the duties are usually consolidated, but sources say this shift in protocol occurred before the scheduled time, creating a dangerous strain on a single air traffic controller.

Further compounding the issue, it has been reported that the Army helicopter involved in the collision, a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk deviated from its approved flight path. Sources indicated that the helicopter was flying at an altitude higher than it should have been, which may have contributed to the collision.

Notably, the Reagan National Airport has been grappling with understaffing for years. As of September 2023, the airport had only 19 fully certified air traffic controllers, far below the target number of 30, according to the Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan submitted to Congress.

By Thursday morning, all 67 people on board both the plane and the helicopter were confirmed dead, and the rescue operation swiftly transitioned into a recovery mission. Investigators made significant progress later that evening when they recovered two black boxes from the American Airlines flight, including the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.