A man whose son and wife both died in the fatal DC plane crash is speaking out about his family’s loss.
16-year-old Spencer Lane and his mother, Christine, were on the plane — which collided with an army helicopter as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington D.C. from Wichita, Kanasas.
Speaking with WPRI, Spencer’s father and Christine’s husband, Douglas Lane, revealed he and his wife adopted Spencer and son Milo from South Korea — describing Spencer, his eldest son, as a “force of nature” since his 2008 adoption.
According to Douglas, his son was inspired to take up figure skating just three years ago after seeing Nathan Chen at the Olympics and deciding, “Hey, I could do that.”
“Even though people train since a small child … he started and learned to skate … and three years later, he’s in Wichita, Kansas … training with former world champions,” said Lane. “He was just a phenom and just loved it. It wasn’t anyone pushing him. He was just somebody who loved it and had natural talent.”
“He went up to Boston every single day, did high school online and was just all in on figure skating and was great at it,” he added.
Calling the deaths of his son’s coaches and other skaters on the flight “just devastating,” he praised Spencer’s “infectiousness” and said the teen was “just loved by everyone” — “from adults running the club to smaller skaters, to the people that are competing for a shot at the Olympics, they all adored him.”
Of his wife, Christine, he called her a “beautiful, creative person” with many talents, including graphic design, photography and quilting. “Just a wonderful, caring person,” he said, pointing out her love of animals and volunteer work at rescues.
“For Christine, just the amount of people from the community in Rhode Island I’ve already heard from today that she’s touched, whether it was screening them to adopt the dog that they love or helping them with a sewing project, or whatever, she was one of those people that could plug in anywhere and connect with people and build a real bond,” he added.
Now, said Lane, he and his youngest son “are kinda left here to figure out the path forward, but we’ll do that.”
“It kind of just felt like a nightmare and was hoping I would wake up and it would be that,” he added, “but it’s a new reality that we have to work through together.”
On Wednesday night, his son Spencer shared an Instagram story from inside the plane as it prepared to take off from Wichita. “ICT-> DCA” read the post, shared shortly before the plane collided with a Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River.
In another post shared earlier in the day on Wednesday, Spencer wrote about his time at in Kansas, sharing photos with other skaters.
“I am so happy to have qualified for national development camp earlier in november, it has been my goal almost ever since I became aware that it was a thing,” he wrote. “I learned so much new information that i can apply to my everyday life, and met so many amazing people!”
“Thank you @usfigureskating and the local organizing committee for making everything happen, and lastly, huge thank you to all the amazing friends, coaches, and faculty that i have met over the last week, it was such an amazing experience,” he wrote.
Lane’s plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, while the helicopter had three soldiers aboard; there are no survivors.
