'He died doing what he absolutely loved': Flight attendant death confirmed in crash
The ex-wife of a flight attendant on board a commercial jet that collided with a military helicopter Wednesday outside Washington D.C. has confirmed her ex-husband, Ian Epstein, was killed in the crash.
"It is with a very heavy heart and extreme sadness that myself along with our children Hannah Epstein and Joanna Epstein and his sister Robbie Epstein Bloom her husband Steven Bloom and nieces Andi and Dani inform you that Ian Epstein was one of the flight attendants on American Airlines Flight 5342 that collided last night when they were landing in DC.," his ex-wife posted on social media Thursday.
He was 53.
She asked for prayers as the family travels to Washington, the post reads.
The flight attendant was among the 60 passengers and four crewmembers on board the airplane when it collided with a Blackhawk trying to land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. All on board both aircrafts were feared dead, officials said Thursday.
According to Debi Epstien's Facebook page, she lives in Harrisburg, North Carolina. The town is in Cabarrus County about 17 miles northeast of Charlotte.
USA TODAY has reached out to American Airlines and union reps.
According to his Facebook page, Ian Epstein worked for PSA Airlines and lived in Charlotte.
USA TODAY has reached out to Epstein's family.
'He died doing what he loved'
According to his ex-wife, the couple's daughter, one of their two children, is set to be married in less than two months.
“He made flying fun for the passengers on the plane so they didn’t get scared,” Debi Epstein told The Charlotte Observer by phone Thursday. “He was always the jokester and just doing the announcements with the twist.”
An outgoing person, she told the outlet, her ex-husband "died doing what he absolutely loved.”
"He had a beautiful energy about him," Jerri Sherer, of Jackson Mississippi, told USA TODAY. "He was fun and flirty and kind to everyone."
The two met on a flight from Charlotte, Sherer said, and later dated and kept in touch over the phone "for hours".
"His sign off was what convinced me I need to give him my phone number," Sherer, 48, said. "I’d never done that to a stranger before. It was his own personal statement and was lovely. He cared about people and wanted to make others happy."
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What is a black box on a plane? What to know after AA Flight 5342 crash with helicopter
What happened to American Airlines Flight 5324?
The crash took place just before 9 p.m. when AA Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, attempted to land and crashed in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter, carrying three people.
The passenger plane with 64 people aboard then fell into icy waters of the Potomac River. A massive recovery effort was underway Thursday as authorities search for bodies in water.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, officials said.
During a Thursday afternoon briefing, National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters the federal agency wants to assure the American public it will "leave no stone unturned in this investigation. ... This is a whole-of-government effort."
The flight data recorders, often called "black boxes," Homendy said, have not been recovered yet.
NTSB member Todd Inman said it is too early to know whether human error or other factors were at play in the collision, but he said the agency expected to have a preliminary report within 30 days.
This story has been updated to add new information.
Contributing: Christopher Cann and Jorge L. Ortiz
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.
(This is a developing story and will be updated.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Flight attendant's ex-wife confirms Ian Epstein died in crash