‘Proud to be your baby sister’: Remembering Maryland father, husband who died in D.C. crash

The sister of a 44-year-old Port Republic, Maryland, man who died Wednesday night in the American Airlines Flight 5342 collision proudly claimed Charles “Charlie” McDaniel as her big brother.

“To the 1st man I had to look up to during a large part of my childhood, from changing my diapers to helping through heartache,” Christina McDaniel Close wrote on Facebook. ‘I’m so proud to be your baby sister. So proud to say ‘yep Charlie McDaniel is my big bro!’ I will never be the same without you here. Love you forever cmac and I can’t wait until I can see you again. Give pop pop a big hug for us all.”’

The post included two photos, one with them as children with his arm around her and her mouth open like she was happily yelling, and then a similar posed photo of them as adults.

McDaniel was part of a group of seven hunters from Southern Maryland who were coming back from waterfowl hunting around Great Bend. A cousin of another victim told The Eagle it was “a pretty tight knit group on that plane.”

Three of the hunters drove back home to make it easier to transport their hunting dogs and shotguns.

It had been a very successful hunt. One photo on outfitter Fowl Plains’ Facebook page showed the cohort in front of more than 70 geese.

They spent three days of duck hunting, some goose hunting and a “European” pheasant hunt, where birds are released for shooters who are waiting in blinds, before heading back home to their families.

The plane, which had taken off from Wichita, collided into an Army Black Hawk helicopter while descending to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Both aircraft fell into the Potomac River.

None of the 67 people on either aircraft survived.

McDaniel has been married for 15 years and has four children, according to a bio on his company website at American Mechanical Services. McDaniel’s LinkedIn profile shows he has worked his way up from an apprentice, to a foreman and then to upper management. He had been the vice president/general manager since April 2023, his LinkedIn profile says.

McDaniel and three others who were on the plane with him were members of the Steamfitters Local 602 in Maryland; another was a member of Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 5 in Maryland.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit Psalms 34:18,” Christina McDaniel Close wrote. “My heart is with all of the lives lost on #5342.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2025 at 6:24 PM.