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

U.S. figure skater Spencer Lane, 16, shared a photo from inside American Eagle Flight 5342 before it took off from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., where it crashed into a helicopter mid-air.

Ice skaters in the Metroplex knew many of the victims of Wednesday’s plane crash: “It’s tough, it’s really hard.”