When American Eagle Flight 5342 took off from Wichita, the Midwest city with a proud aviation history was glowing from a big moment.
It had just hosted the next generation of Olympic hopefuls at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the kind of major sporting event that leaders of the largest city in Kansas had envisioned when they opened a 15,000-seat arena in 2010. For Wichita, which once built many of the nation’s aircraft, the skating showcase was another way of putting the community in America's heartland on a larger stage.
