A year ago today, the heart of our nation was struck by tragedy.
People around the world felt anguish and fear as news poured in from every media outlet in the country. American Airlines Flight 5342, headed to the nation’s capital from Wichita, collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter above the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington D.C.
There were no survivors.
The 67 people involved — 60 passengers, four crew members on the plane and the three military personnel on board the helicopter — died that night in the collision. Two passengers on the plane were Wichita State’s own alumni, Kiah Duggins and Lori (Girard) Schrock.
Duggins is remembered as a beacon of joy, inspiration and compassion in the campus community and by friends and family. She pushed to support her fellow peers through many acts, including helping to found the Kiah Duggins Shocker Support Locker, recently renamed in her honor.
Schrock graduated from Wichita State in 1990 after studying accounting, English and linguistics. She died in the crash along with her husband, Bob, and the couple are survived by their daughter. The Schrocks lived in Kiowa, where they ran Premium Grain, Inc., a company which helps farmers improve their products and sustainability. Lori and Bob Schrock were also deeply involved in their church, according to the couple’s obituary.
The families of the 64 other individuals were irreversibly affected as grief overtook an entire nation and the world because of the deadliest plane crash on American soil since 2001.
Butler Community College —which has campuses across Kansas, including El Dorado and Andover — mourned the loss of biology professor Lindsey Fields, who was remembered as an inspiring teacher and a “force of nature”. The Wichita community felt the loss of Grace Maxwell, a junior studying mechanical engineering at Cedarville University in Ohio. Maxwell was “deeply committed to using her skills to help others,” according to a statement from her university following Maxwell’s passing.
The figure skating community, locally and worldwide, also felt the impact from the loss of the young skaters and their family members, who were leaving the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and the National Development Camp, held in Wichita that week.
Today (Thursday, Jan. 29), the Greater Wichita Ministerial League held a community prayer service at City Hall that started at noon to remember the victims. At the Wichita Ice Center, the figure skating club will hold a moment of silence for the lost children and their families today at 4:45.
A memorial to remember those lost can be viewed at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport until Sunday.
Three-hundred sixty-five days ago, we grieved. Today, we still grieve. We will continue to grieve the 67 lives lost in the collision. Time will never erase the wounds Flight 5342 left in our hearts.
