Skater Says Parents Who Died in Plane Crash Changed Flight Last Minute _ E! News

Transcript

00:00My mom let me know that they're switching flights and that if I couldn't pick them up,

00:06my mom always texts me and calls me as soon as they land.

00:09Maxim Namov is reflecting on the sudden loss of both of his parents.

00:13The skater's parents, former Olympians Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Namov,

00:19died on January 29th when a military Black Hawk helicopter

00:23collided with an American Airlines airplane over Washington, D.C.

00:2767 people were killed in that mid-air collision and his parents were two of the 28 which were

00:33members of the figure skating community. It was the first major accident involving

00:37a U.S. commercial airliner since 2009. In an interview with Today's Craig Melvin,

00:42March 27th, Maxim reveals his parents were not supposed to be on the doomed flight.

00:47How did you find out what had happened?

00:50My mom let me know that they're switching flights and that if I couldn't pick them up,

00:57my mom always texts me and calls me as soon as they land.

01:00Maxim's parents were Russian Olympians and world champions. After they retired from competition,

01:05they had settled in the U.S. and became coaches while raising their only son.

01:09On March 2nd, Maxim returned to the skating rink for the first time since his parents' death,

01:14performing a moving tribute at the Legacy on Ice event, which also helped raise money for

01:18the families of victims as well as first responders who helped in the wake of the tragedy.

01:48you