He died in a plane crash. His family is raising the son he never got to meet.

Weeks before leaving for a work trip to Kansas, Vikesh Patel learned he was going to be a father.

Raised in a tight-knit family in Havre de Grace, Patel always wanted kids. He and his wife, Audrey, planned to move from their apartment in Arlington, Virginia, to a house in Maryland, where their children could grow up near his parents.

“Raising a family would have been the best years of his life,” Audrey said.

He never got that chance. The 33-year-old executive at GE Aerospace was one of 67 people who died Jan. 29, 2025, when the American Airlines plane he was on collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington.

Last September, Audrey gave birth to their son. She named him Niam Vikesh Patel, a link to the father he would never meet.

Niam is now nine months old, with two teeth and a mop of long, dark hair. He crawls, eats solid foods and loves toys that crinkle or play music. He shares his father’s brown eyes and habit of waking up early.

To Patel’s family, there is comfort in knowing that part of him lives on. But each moment he misses is also a searing reminder of his loss, the grief that endures, and the father Patel never got to be.

“For the first few weeks after I took Niam home, I really couldn’t look at him without crying,” Audrey said. “All I could think about was how much I wanted Vik to be here to see it.”

Sunday would have been Patel’s first Father’s Day.

Family man

Patel was born in England on Feb. 22, 1991. He and his family immigrated to the United States in 1998 and settled in the Baltimore suburbs, where his parents purchased a motel and raised their children in a home attached to the lobby.

From an early age, family was the center of Patel’s life.

He and his older sister, Dhanisha, were inseparable. While their parents worked, the kids helped out by cleaning the house or making tea. By age 8, Patel was pitching in at the family business, checking in customers and installing security cameras.

Patel earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2012. Though his career at GE Aerospace pulled him away from home, he remained his family’s rock.

His parents, originally from India, spoke limited English. Patel helped them manage finances, navigate medical appointments and resolve issues with customers. He called to check on them every day.

“He took care of everything,” his sister said. “It didn’t matter where in the world he was.”

He met Audrey at their GE orientation. They were friends for years before a romance bloomed. On their first date in 2018, Patel mentioned how excited he was to have kids.

They married before more than 200 guests in April 2024, nine months before the crash.

“We thought we were kicking off the rest of our lives together,” Audrey said.

Working from home allowed them to spend much of Patel’s final months together. They started each day with a hug that was scheduled as a recurring event in Patel’s calendar. They ate breakfast and went on midday walks.

Even ordinary moments together felt fun, Audrey recalled.

Audrey was around seven weeks pregnant — too early to celebrate or share the news with anyone — when Patel left to visit an engine maintenance site in Kansas. As they cuddled on the couch in the hours before his trip, Patel mentioned he wanted the baby’s sex to be a surprise.

Audrey missed a call from her husband as he headed to the Wichita airport for his flight home. The voicemail remains saved on her phone.

“I love you very much,” he said, “and I cannot wait to see you tonight.”

Pregnancy and grief

When Audrey’s phone buzzed the night of Jan. 29, 2025, she assumed it was her husband letting her know he landed.

Instead, the text was from his manager. What was Patel’s flight number, he asked?

American Airlines 5342, Audrey replied. Moments later, the manager called. Her husband’s plane was in the river, he said. It had been struck by a helicopter.

In disbelief, Audrey called Patel’s father, Dipak. They drove together to the airport, where dozens of victims’ family members were gathering.

They waited through the night. Sometime early the next morning came an announcement: No one on board had survived.

“It was the end of life as we knew it,” Audrey said.

Audrey and Dipak drove to Havre de Grace. As family members arrived at the Patels’ house, Audrey shared that she was expecting.

The news brought a swirl of joy and heartbreak. Many in the room burst into tears.

“He wanted to be a dad so badly,” said Patel’s sister, Dhanisha, who was also pregnant and gave birth that summer. “We worried for Audrey and how she was going to move forward.”

Over the next several months, Audrey navigated pregnancy and grief with the help of family, friends and colleagues. The first trimester was exhausting, and she often struggled to get out of bed. For a while, the loss was so consuming that it was hard to look forward to the baby’s arrival.

Yet pregnancy also left less room to dwell on her grief. It gave her a reason to keep moving forward.

Audrey went into labor at the end of September, carrying laminated photos of her husband into the delivery room. Honoring his wish, she waited until the birth to learn if they were having a boy or girl.

After 25 hours, she underwent a cesarean section delivery. Her nurses encouraged her to play music during the procedure. Audrey chose her wedding song, “Across the Room” by ODESZA.

She wept as she delivered a healthy, 8-pound baby boy.

“I just couldn’t believe that I was there without him,” she said.

Raising her husband’s son

Niam sat in his high chair on a recent Wednesday evening, dressed in a dinosaur-print onesie and kicking his bare feet as Audrey coaxed him to eat a mashed avocado.

His large eyes darted around the apartment. Audrey noticed his gaze settle on a tall bookcase that held photos of his father.

“Are you looking at those pictures of Daddy?” she asked.

Patel’s family hopes Niam grows up feeling connected to his father. Photos and mementos of him fill the apartment he and Audrey once shared, as well as his childhood home in Havre de Grace.

Patel’s parents FaceTime, visit often and speak to Niam in their native Gujarati. Audrey said that a great way for Niam to know his father is to spend time with the people who raised him.

“He’s my grandson, but he’s like my second son,” said Dipak, Patel’s father.

About a year after the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that it resulted from a cascade of failures, including dangerous flight routes, failures to address risks, and an overreliance on pilots to see and avoid each other.

Audrey has joined other victims’ family members in recent months on Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers and urging them to mandate technology that would give pilots more warning of nearby aircraft.

“My mission in life now is two things,” Audrey said. “One is to build the most beautiful life I can for our son. And the second is to make sure that the skies are safer than they were on the night that Vik died.”

This Father’s Day offers another reminder that life is moving forward without Patel. Audrey plans to show Niam pictures of his dad and throw a dance party, honoring Patel’s love of music.

She’ll imagine him laughing and dancing alongside them.