Jesse Pitcher, 30, was a “determined” man who had just started one of the best chapters of his life, loved ones said.

Pitcher, of Lusby, was among the 67 people killed in a plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night, family confirmed.

He’d just gotten married last year and was looking forward to building a house with his wife, Kylie. He’d also started his own business — a lifelong dream — and had several employees, said his father, Jameson Pitcher.

“He was just a hard worker, a great son, very reliable,” Jameson Pitcher said. “People would call in the middle of the night, and he’d get up at whatever time it was and get up the road and take care of whatever he had to take care of.”

Jesse Pitcher left for Kansas about a week and a half ago to join his longtime friends on a hunting trip, his father said. He was headed home Wednesday evening on American Airlines flight No. 5342, which departed from Wichita.

The jet was about to land before 9 p.m. when it collided midair with a military helicopter. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River, and recovery efforts have been ongoing. There were no survivors.

Six of Jesse Pitcher’s friends were also aboard the plane, his father said. Another three who attended the hunting trip opted to drive back instead of fly, Jameson Pitcher said.

His son was always a go-getter who would do anything for others, he said.

After Jesse Pitcher’s mother died when he was 13, he became very protective over his two sisters. One sister, who lives in Virginia, has joined her family in Maryland, and the other is driving down from Ohio.

“They’re all devastated,” Jameson Pitcher said.

After high school, Jesse Pitcher enrolled in a five-year apprenticeship program, and he started his own plumbing business a few years after graduating, his father said. He mostly completed service and emergency work in D.C., including at government facilities, Jameson Pitcher said.

“He knew how to talk to people and knew how to get things done,” his father said.

Robin Cox, Jesse Pitcher’s aunt, said the crash has had a “huge, huge impact” on their tight-knit Southern Maryland community. Some members of the group had known each other since childhood, she said.

Cox said it was “remarkable” to watch her nephew take risks and launch his own business.

“It took a lot of nerve to go out on his own, and he’s done really well,” Cox said. “He really was in his prime.”