Passengers aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River included teen figure skaters returning from the U.S.

The Skating Club of Boston, which lost six community members in the D.C. plane crash, suffered a similar tragedy in 1961.

When an American Airlines plane went down over Washington, D.C. Wednesday evening, members of the Boston skating community couldn't help but recall a similar tragedy from decades ago.

A pair of World Champion Russian figure skaters were aboard an American Airlines flight returning from a development camp that followed the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, according to published reports.

The ice skating community in Greater Boston is waiting to learn if fellow skaters or coaches are among those killed in the mid-air collision of an American Airlines plane.