The flight attendants of a passenger jet that collided with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. Wednesday were based out of Charlotte, an Association of Flight Attendants spokesperson confirmed to Axios.

It didn’t take long for Charlotte-based flight attendant Ian Epstein to make his presence felt among his co-workers, former American Airlines employee, Garrick McFadden remembers. “Ian literally is just a colorful ball of energy;

One of the flight attendants that was on board when an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter near Washington had ties to Charlotte.