Matt Jacoby’s ice dance partner, Alydia Livingston, was on Flight 5342. Now, the 16-year-old skates in her honor.

On the night of Jan. 28, Alydia Livingston stood in the middle of a barbecue restaurant in Wichita, Kan. She was with her ice dance partner, Matt Jacoby. The pair had just finished U.S. Figure Skating’s national development camp, an invite-only event that featured the most promising young athletes in the sport.

They had learned a lot, and decided, amid clanking silverware and bustling waiters, to show everyone their new moves.

Matt, 16, wrapped his arm around the waist of Alydia, 11. He lifted her left leg and flipped her over his right shoulder, then gently placed her back on the floor. She bounced off with a grin.

Donna Livingston, Alydia’s mother, and Liz Abercrombie, Matt’s mother, began to clap and laugh. The two families were exhausted but exhilarated. Matt and Alydia had begun skating together only about a month earlier at the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society, but got encouraging feedback throughout the camp.

The next day, Donna Livingston and her husband, Peter, drove Alydia and her 14-year-old sister, Everly, to the airport to fly home to Washington, where they lived. Before the plane took off, Donna Livingston texted Abercrombie.

“Boarding now,” she wrote. “I’ll see you Monday!”

Later that night, Matt was awakened in his Bala Cynwyd home by a slew of text messages. Abercrombie got a call from her son’s coach, Slava Uchitel, asking if their family was OK.

She turned on the TV and saw news footage of emergency vehicle lights piercing a black D.C. sky. The plane that the Livingstons were on — American Airlines Flight 5342 — had collided with a military helicopter. The wreckage sat in the Potomac River.

“I think we knew, right away, that nobody survived,” Abercrombie said.

She and her husband, Doug Jacoby, spent the next few hours on the phone with other families and friends, trying to figure out who else was on board. In all, 67 people were killed in the midair collision, including Alydia, Everly, Donna, and Peter. Among the deceased were 24 other members of the skating community: coaches, athletes, parents.

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Not long after the crash, on Feb. 3, U.S. Figure Skating held a virtual moment of silence. Rinks all over the country were invited to participate. The Philadelphia Skating Club, in Ardmore, adorned the ice with candles, roses, and teddy bears.

Matt’s parents asked if he’d like some time off. The 16-year-old politely declined. Skating was always where he’d felt most free.

Now, it is where he honors the legacy of his late partner.

“Every single competition, I skate with the memory of Alydia and the Livingstons,” Matt said, “and all of my friends on that flight.”

Matt and Alydia first connected through their respective coaches in December 2024. Both skaters were looking for a new partner, so Alydia’s coach contacted Uchitel about a tryout.

It didn’t take long for their families to realize it was a match.

“They seemed to jell in a way that was really remarkable,” Abercrombie said. “And that was one of the drivers of why our coach said, ‘This is the one. She’s the right partner for him.’”

A skating partnership is about more than on-ice ability. The athletes have to be of a similar age range and build. They have to have the same drive and, for the most part, the same goals.

Their families have to be equally dedicated to these goals, which sometimes requires moving to a new city to train. And, of course, the skaters need to like each other, since they’ll be together every day, before and after school.

None of this was a problem for Matt and Alydia. After they decided to pair up, in early January, the Livingstons found an apartment in Conshohocken. One parent would stay in D.C., where Everly also trained as a skater, while the other stayed with Alydia.

Abercrombie and Livingston would take turns buying snacks, carpooling the kids to the rink, and helping them with homework during breaks. It was a grueling schedule — 6:30 practices in the morning and 5 p.m. practices later — but Peter and Donna Livingston embraced it.

In their backyard, they built a rink for their daughters so they could skate at home. They documented the girls’ skating pursuits on an Instagram account that amassed more than 23,000 followers.

Like her parents, Alydia brought a refreshing levity to the daily grind. Some skaters have to force a smile during practices and competitions, but not the 11-year-old. She made Matt laugh and smile even on the longest of days. He came to see her like a little sister.

“Alydia was always providing energy and excitement,” he said. “I miss her.”

Nothing brought Alydia more excitement than the development camp in late January. Only 151 skaters were invited. Matt had initially qualified with his previous partner, but U.S. Figure Skating saw so much promise in his pairing with Alydia that it extended a special invitation to the new duo.

She talked about it constantly, and when she arrived in Wichita, she made sure to take in every moment — even the mundane. After Alydia and Everly, who also participated in the camp, picked up their credentials, they ran around the arena taking photos with pride.

It was their first time wearing the lanyards at a U.S. Figure Skating event. The sisters weren’t there as fans; they were there as athletes.

Matt and his mother got into Wichita a few days later, on Jan. 25. He’d hoped that he would have some time to watch his favorite skaters compete in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which were held just before the start of the development camp.

But his flight to Wichita was delayed. He worried he might miss the men’s event.

The Livingstons sprung into action. They picked up his credentials for the camp. They purchased the last T-shirt in his size at the merchandise stand.

Donna Livingston met the mother and son outside the arena while the event was going on.

“You’re here!” she said to Matt, handing him his new gear. “Don’t worry, Liddy saved you a seat!”

There are no direct flights from Wichita to Philadelphia, so Liz Abercrombie and her son knew they would have to connect somewhere after the camp ended. Their original plan was to fly through Dallas, but the city was expecting inclement weather.

An American Airlines representative urged them to get on Flight 5342, and connect through D.C., because the forecast there was clear. But that would have gotten them home late at night, and Matt had school the next morning.

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So, they stuck with Dallas, switching to a flight that took off a few hours earlier.

It ended up being a life-changing decision.

In the wake of the crash, family and friends of the victims pooled together photos from the development camp.

One image, taken at a pizza parlor about three days before Flight 5342 went down, has stuck with Abercrombie. It’s a photo of 11 skaters, sitting around a table, with big smiles on their faces.

She pointed to Everly, who was more reserved by nature.

“She’s sitting next to her friend Campbell,” Abercrombie said, “and is a little less sure of this whole scene.”

A few seats down, Alydia sat next to 12-year-old skater Brielle Beyer, another passenger on the fallen flight.

In the moment, it was just a photo of some athletes having fun.

“Now, we look at this picture,” Abercrombie said, “and a third of the kids are gone.”

There is no guide on how to process a loss of this magnitude. So, the Jacoby family has leaned on what they know: their tight-knit skating community. U.S. Figure Skating has continued to offer counseling for those affected by the crash.

It has organized Zoom meetings so the skaters can get together and discuss ways of moving forward. The surviving members of the Livingston family have helped with this, too.

For a while, Matt felt uneasy about finding a new partner. But in February, he attended a celebration of life ceremony in memory of the Livingstons, and was approached by Alydia’s grandmother, Martha.

She gave him a hug.

“Keep skating,” she told him. “We want you to keep skating. We’re rooting for you now.”

In March, Matt Jacoby was invited to the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston. The family booked an Amtrak train, but it was canceled the day they were set to leave.

Matt had skating practice the next morning, for a tribute performance to the victims of Flight 5342. They had two options: Fly for the first time since the crash, or drive and get into Boston late at night.

Despite feeling some trepidation, they chose to fly.

“We kind of ripped the Band-Aid off,” Abercrombie said.

“[Flying] has definitely been on people’s minds,” she added. “But I think the reality is, in skating, we get up, right? And we keep going. And you’re resilient and you have grit.”

The teenager has a new ice dance partner — 13-year-old Anna Waugh — and is participating in competitions again.

The family has tried to use the tragedy to create positive change. They have become vocal advocates for aviation reform, particularly the ROTOR Act, which mandates that all aircraft use certain equipment to improve their situational awareness.

Abercrombie called it a “nonpartisan issue.”

“This was a preventable accident,” she said. “And there is current legislation that’s been proposed to address a lot of these concerns and to make air travel safer for everyone in America. This is something that really everyone should be getting behind.”

The Philadelphia Skating Club is also introducing a new trophy dedicated to Alydia — the Alydia Livingston Trophy for Novice Dance — that Matt played a part in designing. It’s a modern trophy, a swirl of gold and silver, with stars at the very top.

On Dec. 13, Penn Ice Rink will host a tribute in honor of those who died on Flight 5342, called Legacy on Ice Philadelphia. Some of the top skaters in the country will be there. All proceeds will go toward the victims’ families.

But in Matt Jacoby’s mind, the greatest way he can honor his friend is by skating with joy, even on the hardest of days.