Woman, 20, who died in tragic American Airlines crash was returning from grandad's funeral

One of the victims onboard American Airlines Flight 5342 was returning to university after attending her grandfather's funeral in Kansas.

20-year-old mechanical engineering student Grace Maxwell has been named as one of the 64 people on board the flight which collided with a US military helicopter carrying three soldiers in Washington D.C. on Wednesday (29 January).

At 9.00pm local time (2.00am GMT) the PSA Airlines jet, operating as American Airlines Flight 5342, had been descending to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport when it crashed into the US Army Black Hawk helicopter before plummeting into the Potomac River.

All those involved are believed to have died in the accident.

The identities of those on board the flight are now being released to the public, with Grace's father confirming that she had been one of the passengers on the flight.

A recovery operation is currently underway in Washington D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

"We do know she was on the plane," Dean Maxwell told The Wichita Eagle, adding that the family are yet to receive any further information about whether or not his daughter's body has been recovered from authorities.

Dean added that he'd spoken to the American Airlines Care Team several times and was told that they'd be in touch when they had information.

Grace had been a student at Cedarville University in Ohio, with her father confirming that she'd travelled back to Kansas in order to attend her grandfather's funeral. The university has since released a statement on the matter, calling Grace 'a thoughtful, quiet student leader'.

"Grace was scheduled to serve on a project team this semester that would begin to create a hand-stabilising device for a differently enabled Dayton boy so he could feed himself rather than relying on others," the university said in its statement.

20-year-old Grace was an engineering student (Grace Maxwell/Instagram)

"Grace was a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering," added Dr. Tim Norman, one of her advisors.

"As you can imagine, the past 24 hours have been very difficult for the Maxwell family and the Cedarville University community. As a university, we do not desire to turn this tragic event into anything more than a way to honour Grace, her family, and Jesus," read a second statement from the university (via WLWT).

A full passenger list is yet to be released by American Airlines, however numerous people have currently been identified through family and in the media.

Passengers identified include former world champion figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, pilot Sam Lilley, Disney On Ice star and former USSR figure skater Inna Volyanskaya and, Asra Hussain Raza.