Latest news with #DougLane
CBS News
27-03-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Tribute honors plane crash victims as World Figure Skating Championships begin in Boston
The World Figure Skating Championships kicked off at TD Garden in Boston with a very emotional start. Before any skaters hit the ice to compete, the entire arena took time to honor the lives of those who sadly could not be there. There were six lives taken far too soon from The Skating Club of Boston community back in January when their plane coming from Wichita, Kansas collided mid-air with a military helicopter in Washington, D.C. "On the ice, they would be your most fierce competitors, and off the ice, they would be your most fierce fans," Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said during the ceremony. Sixty-seven people were killed in the January plane crash over the Potomac River. More than two dozen victims were tied to the figure skating community. Two coaches, two young figure skaters and their mothers killed in the plane crash were from The Skating Club of Boston . Wednesday night, skaters and families from across the world came to Boston to share their love for the sport. "As we begin, we remember that in moments of loss, we also find unity. In grief we find strength, and in remembrance we find hope," Gov. Maura Healey said. Among those grieving, but finding hope was Doug Lane, who lost both his wife Christine, and son Spencer in the crash. "Spencer had actually been selected to be an awards presenter at this event, so it was personally meaningful to me as well," Doug Lane said. Before the World Figure Skating Championships began, Lane took to the ice giving a powerful tribute. "Obviously, my preference would have been to be sitting in the stands with my wife cheering for him but given that he wasn't able to fulfill that duty, it was meaningful for me to be able to be kind of a poor stand in, in his place," Lane said. The championships will continue at the Garden until Sunday.
USA Today
26-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
'Frozen in time': Crash victims mourned at 2025 world figure skating championships
'Frozen in time': Crash victims mourned at 2025 world figure skating championships Show Caption Hide Caption Top U.S. figure skaters gather to honor flight crash victims with show U.S. figure skating's biggest names are coming together for 'Legacy on Ice', a tribute show for the victims of the tragic flight crash on January 29th. Sports Pulse BOSTON — The first day of competition at the 2025 world figure skating championships at TD Garden also featured a poignant tribute. Between the first two sessions of competition Wednesday, the regular schedule of events paused to acknowledge the loss and memories of the 28 members of the figure skating community who died in the mid-air collision over the Potomac River on Jan. 29. Six of those lost were based in the Boston area, including two young skaters: Spencer Lane, 16, and Jinna Han, 13. Spencer's father, Doug Lane, was among those who addressed the crowd Wednesday during a ceremony that lasted roughly 20 minutes. While urging support for the young skaters are grieving the loss of their friends, he also offered a message of hope − including hope that the mid-air collision will lead to lasting change. "Even a layperson like me can easily identify the systematic breakdowns that allowed this to happen," Doug Lane said. "But rather than looking for places to place blame, I hope that we can work with our elected officials to make air travel safer for everyone, and for all of our families." Doug Lane's wife, Christine, was also on board American Airlines 5342, which had been traveling to Washington from Wichita, Kansas − the site of the most recent national championships and a national development camp for talented young skaters thereafter. As a result, nearly half of the 60 passengers on the flight were members of the figure skating community. There were no survivors in the incident, in which the American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter. Eleven figure skaters, all between the ages of 11 and 16, were among the 68 people who died. "Someone once told me time is a great healer," said Jae Youl Kim, the president of the International Skating Union, which oversees international figure skating. "But for those who have experienced deep loss, we know that time does not simply erase pain. For many of us, it feels like we are frozen in time." Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu also spoke during the tribute. Interim U.S. Figure Skating chief executive officer Samuel Auxier read a poem. Wednesday's memorial came three weeks after star figure skaters converged in Washington for "Legacy on Ice," a tribute show that raised money for victims' families and first responders. Multiple American skaters have said the victims of the plane crash will continue to be front of mind for them as these world championships progress. Ilia Malinin, who trained at the same rink as several of the young skaters, said last week that he will dedicate his performance in Boston to their memory. The traditional post-competition gala, meanwhile, is expected to feature an appearance from Maxim Naumov. Naumov, who is an alternate but not competing at worlds, lost both of his parents in the Jan. 29 crash. "I want to share their story as much as possible, because they never got the chance to," Naumov told NBC Sports in some of his first extensive comments since the crash. "They're not here right now, but they'll always be here. It's not just me anymore. It's our family. I have the strength of two other people with me forever." Contact Tom Schad at tschad@ or on social media @
USA Today
08-03-2025
- General
- USA Today
He lost his wife and son in the DC plane crash. Now, he wants to see change.
He lost his wife and son in the DC plane crash. Now, he wants to see change. Doug Lane wants the institutions that were supposed to protect his family, like the Federal Aviation Administration, held accountable. Show Caption Hide Caption Doug Lane talks about his son, DC plane crash victim Spencer Lane Doug Lane, a Barrington resident, lost his wife Christine Conrad Lane and son Spencer Lane in a plane crash on Jan. 29. Christine and Spencer Lane died in a plane crash in the Potomac River. Spencer Lane was a talented 16-year-old figure skater who trained at the Skating Club of Boston. Christine Lane was a devoted mother and creative quilter. Doug Lane, Christine's husband and Spencer's father, believes the crash was preventable. He is now advocating for changes to air traffic control systems to prevent future tragedies. Waiting at home in Barrington, Rhode Island, Doug Lane checked the flight tracker again. American Airlines flight 5342 landed 10 minutes ago, it insisted. His wife, Christine Conrad Lane, and eldest son, Spencer Lane, should be at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where they'd catch their connecting flight back home. So why was the Find My Friend app telling him that Christine was still in Wichita, Kansas, and Spencer was in some other state? Twenty minutes. Even if they were stuck on the tarmac, Spencer, a startlingly talented 16-year-old figure skater with a prolific social media presence, would have turned on his phone. Doug pulled up CNN's website, looking for a distraction. Instead, he saw a series of words that took his breath away: Plane crash, Potomac River. 'My heart was beating out of my chest," he recalled in an interview with the USA TODAY Network this week. Just before 9 p.m. on Jan. 29, a passenger jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. Even before he knew the details, Doug connected the dots. It was Christine and Spencer's plane. There weren't any survivors. Christine Conrad Lane: An animal lover with boundless creative energy Doug and Christine met on a fall day in Boston in 1999 while watching the Head of the Charles regatta, a rowing competition held annually on the Charles River, with friends. He remembers seeing her on the dock, with her irresistible smile and chunky black boots, and thinking she was cute. Christine, who grew up in New Jersey, had recently moved to Boston to work as a graphic designer at an advertising agency. They went on one date – dinner in the North End – but it wasn't until a year later that she agreed to another. At the time, Doug was laser-focused on his career and content to "waste the weekend away" after working long hours during the week. Christine was the opposite: She'd bounce out of bed, asking him, "What are we doing today?" and filled her spare time with creative pursuits like sewing, knitting and photography. "Eventually, I started to like it and realize, oh, this is how you find your passions," Doug said. "You go out and you try things, and you experience life outside of work." When the couple got engaged, Christine spent hours making intricate wedding invitations by hand. A lifelong animal lover, she was eager to get a dog, but Doug suggested waiting until after the honeymoon. She held him to his word, scheduling the appointment the day they returned. "We're on our honeymoon in this lovely boutique hotel in Napa Valley," he recalled. "And she's on the bed with her laptop, looking at greyhounds for adoption." The couple also wanted children, but pregnancy for Christine was considered "high risk": As a student at Syracuse University, she'd had "pretty intensive surgery" to remove a brain tumor, Doug said. Adopting Spencer from South Korea in 2009, followed by Milo in 2014, was an easy choice. By then, the Lanes had moved to Westport, Massachusetts. They "enthusiastically – if sometimes clumsily – embraced Korean culture," Doug wrote in Spencer's obituary. That including keeping Spencer's Korean name, Seojin, as his middle name, but constantly struggling to pronounce it. While waiting for Milo to come home, Christine decided to make him a quilt, she later said in a video posted to her YouTube channel, Quilting on Caffeine. Soon, she had a new passion: making colorful quilts with modern designs. "Her creativity just took off," said Doug. Spencer Seojin Lane: A natural athlete driven to achieve his skating dreams One of Doug's favorite photos of Spencer was taken when he was 3 years old. He's on a bright green training bike, but he's not riding it. He's standing atop its tiny seat, smiling down from his precarious perch. "That's just how he was," Doug said. "He had these crazy athletic abilities, but zero interest in traditional sports." The Lanes moved to Barrington, Rhode Island, in 2018, drawn in part by the strong public school system. As the 2022 Winter Olympics approached, 13-year-old Spencer became fascinated with figure skating. In just two years, he went from taking his first lessons to training at the prestigious Skating Club of Boston full-time, outshining peers who'd been skating for years. He amassed thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram and got recognized at far-flung rinks. "His progress was so uncommon that people just were really captivated by it," Doug said. Spencer dreamed of joining U.S. Figure Skating's national development team, which is composed of potential prospects for Team USA. From there, he could potentially even make it to the Olympics. He enrolled in an online high school program so that he could spend five days a week at the Skating Club of Boston's state-of-the-art facility, typically arriving around 8:30 a.m. and leaving around 3 p.m. "He was very intense, and he never wanted to take a day off," Doug said. Spencer's world-class training wasn't cheap, but the Lanes were willing to make sacrifices to invest in his talent. Christine, who'd stepped away from graphic design to be a "full-time mom," got her real estate license so she could help, Doug said. In November, Spencer achieved his dream: qualifying for the National Development Team. U.S. Figure Skating invited him to train at an elite development camp. It would take place in Wichita in January. Grieving husband and father wants to fix broken systems Until he got to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Doug said, there was a small part of him that still thought he might eventually wake up and realize he'd been having a horrible nightmare. "This is not something you ever even think about," he said. "You think about, 'What happens if my wife or child gets in a car accident?' or 'What if somebody gets sick?' This is beyond anything I ever even thought to worry about." The investigation into the crash is still ongoing, but in his view, it's already "pretty obvious" that it could have been prevented. He's not angry at the pilots who were flying the plane, or the U.S. Army helicopter that collided with it, he said. He has only empathy for the air traffic controllers who were working that day. Tragic collision Family of DC plane crash victim files $250 million claim against government He blames the "antiquated and ill-thought-out system of air traffic control and sharing of airspace between military and commercial aircraft," not specific individuals. And he wants the institutions that were supposed to protect his family, like the Federal Aviation Administration, held accountable. Fixing the system that broke down that day, Doug believes, would be one form of justice. "It's pretty apparent that changes need to be made," he said. Back home, he's doing his best to adapt to life as a single father. Milo, a seventh-grader at Barrington Middle School, has proven surprisingly resilient. Doug copes with his own grief by throwing himself into projects, as Christine had taught him. "I've been just trying to keep busy, and as long as I'm busy, I'm OK," he said. "When you get home late at night and things settle down, I think that's when it's hardest for both of us. Especially because you can feel the people that are missing from the house."
