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

Several members' of the U.S. Figure Skating community were onboard the American Airlines plane that collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter over Washington, D.C., the governing body said in a statement.