A father who lost his wife and 12-year-old daughter in the American Airlines crash knew something was wrong when their flight didn’t land as expected.

On January 29, a PSA Airlines plane collided mid-air with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C. The wreckage fell into the Potomac River, with all 64 passengers and crew on the plane and three on the helicopter presumed dead.

Andy Beyer lost his wife, Justyna, 42, and daughter, Brielle, who had survived cancer as a baby. Speaking about Brielle, he said, “She was just such a fighter… She just lived life to the fullest.” She had been returning from the US Figure Skating National Development Camp, a dream she had worked hard to achieve.

Beyer, waiting at the airport with his 6-year-old son, became worried when “they hadn’t landed [and] we couldn’t get text messages through.” A friend in air traffic control confirmed the crash. “I didn’t have a lot of hope, unfortunately,” he said.

A GoFundMe has been set up to support the grieving family, describing their loss as “an irreplaceable void in the hearts of family and friends.”