How local skaters are coming together to honor D.C. plane crash victims

More than a month has passed, and Barrington figure skater Jiaying Ellyse Johnson is still feeling it.

“It was a huge shock and, honestly, I’m still grieving,” she said.

The Wauconda High School freshman was friends with three of the skaters and familiar through group chats and competitions with others among the 28 who died in the Jan. 29 Washington D.C. plane collision with a helicopter following the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

An event at Twin Rinks Ice Pavilion in Buffalo Grove may help the healing process for skaters like Johnson.

A memorial exhibition, “Skate for the 28,” will begin at 5:45 p.m. Friday, March 7, at Twin Rinks, 1500 Abbott Court, in Buffalo Grove.

Motivated by athletes like Johnson who train at Twin Rinks, 21 skaters and a group from the Starlights Synchronized Skating Teams will perform during the exhibition. The event is free and open to the public with a suggested cash donation.

Proceeds from a bake sale, silent auction and donations will go to the U.S. Figure Skating Family Support Fund, provided to create financial assistance for the families of those who died on American Airlines Flight 5342.

“The show is really a great way to bring everyone together and skate for the ones we’ve lost,” said Johnson, who finished third among junior women in her short program and seventh overall at the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kan., Jan. 20-26.

Johnson, 14, was friends with crash victims Spencer Lane, 16, Franco Aparicio, 14, and Jinna Han, 13. Lane’s mother, Aparicio’s father and Han’s mother also died in the crash.

“I just saw all the kids at that event before the crash,” said Johnson, who will perform a program to Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over.”

So did Lorenzo Elano of Chicago, who trains at Twin Rinks and won the U.S. junior men’s title at the Wichita competition. He also knew Lane, Aparicio and Han.

“Spencer, he was competing at a lower level than I was, but it’s always good to be supportive of others regardless of what level they’re at or what events they’re in. Even Jinna, it was very hard,” said Elano, 17.

The crash set off a flurry of text messages throughout the skating community, with people trying to figure out who was on that plane.

“As I got more information, it was overwhelming,” Elano said.

At “Skate for the 28” he’ll be performing a short program to “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” from “Les Miserables.” It’s a song that might mirror the overall feeling of Friday’s event.

“Very, very sad, probably,” Elano said.

Yet, as Johnson said, not without value in honoring their peers.

“I feel like this is a huge tragedy but it’s good to bring everyone together to grieve together and remember them together,” she said.