A group of friends from the Washington, D.C. area were on their way home from a Kansas hunting trip when Flight 5342 crashed on Wednesday night.
According to their friends and family, seven of the 67 people who were killed when an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided mid-air with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter were returning to their Maryland homes from a trip to hunt waterfowl, including ducks, geese and pheasants in Kansas, the Wichita Eagle reported.
The men were identified as Jesse Pitcher, 30; Michael Stovall, 40; Steve Johnson, 45; Alexander Huffman, 34; Charles McDaniel, 44; Jonathan Boyd, 40; and Tommy Clagett, 38, per the Eagle. They had embarked on a hunt with a group of 10 people to travel to Great Bend, located about 100 miles outside of Wichita.
Per the Eagle, 3 of the group members decided to drive home so they could transport their gear and dogs more easily, and the other 7 men decided to fly home to their families, all located in southern Maryland.
In a Facebook post shared on Thursday, Jan. 30, Fowl Plains shared photos from the friends’ trip. The organization wrote in the caption that their clients “are more than friends. They’re family.”
“Last night we lost 7 family members in the horrific plane crash. 7 family members we’ve had the privilege to hunt with the last few years,” the outfitter wrote in the post. “We’ve spent this past week, sharing the blind, laughing, talking about our families, and sharing memories. We are completely heartbroken. Please pray for the families, friends and for our 3 other hunters in the group who were driving home.”
“Heartbroken is an understatement,” they added.
Chase White, an owner of Fowl Plains, also spoke to the Eagle about spending time with the big group of friends, opening up about their trip.
According to White, the friends shared all their meals, laughing and enjoying spending time as a big group of friends.
“For them to be able to do something for the last five or six days that they all loved together,” White told the outlet, “You know, I think that is something really special for sure.”
Four of the seven men were members of the UA Steamfitters Local 602 labor union in Maryland, per the Eagle, while others in the group worked together and were close friends.
A number of the men’s families have spoken out about their deaths. The family members of 30-year-old Jesse Pitcher tearfully told the Eagle that he had founded a plumbing company in Maryland and he and his wife of one year, Kylie, had just broken ground on their new house.
“He was a very hardworking, caring child,” his aunt, Robin Cox, told the Eagle. “We are incredibly proud of what he was able to accomplish in 30 years.”
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Christina Stovall, the mother of 40-year-old Michael Stovall, spoke to local Florida station WINK-TV and opened up about her son’s life.
Stovall told the CBS affiliate: “Mikey did not have one enemy. If you see pictures of him, which I’m sure I’m going to post on there, he was the life of the party. He loved everybody. He didn’t see color, he didn’t see anything. He’s the happiest person. He saw good in everybody, almost to a fault.”
“There was seven wonderful guys there,” she added.
The families of Mike Stovall, Charles McDaniel and Tommy Clagett have each started GoFundMe or Mealtrain pages to assist their young families with living expenses and meals. Another GoFundMe page, which has garnered over $117,000 of its $200,000 goal as of Friday, Jan. 31, has been organized on behalf of all of the men’s families.
“These victims were more than just hunters; they were fathers, sons, husbands, friends, business owners and respected members of the community who shared a deep love for the outdoors,” the joint GoFundMe page states. “Their presence in the field and their contributions to the local hunting community have left lasting memories, and they will be deeply missed.”
American Airlines flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan., and the military aircraft crashed into each other just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29, as the plane was preparing to land at Reagan National Airport, outside of Washington, D.C.
The fiery crash sent both aircrafts plummeting into the Potomac River and all 67 passengers were killed.
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