In a tragic incident that has rocked the aviation community, the American Airlines pilots who lost their lives in a plane crash in Washington, D.C. have been officially identified.
Timothy Lilley, dad to 28-year-old Samuel Lilley, shared that his son was one of the pilots on that American Airlines jet that crashed into a helicopter Wednesday night before going down in the Potomac River. Lilley mentioned his son, who was the first officer on the flight, was gearing up to tie the knot this fall.
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The flight’s captain was Jonathan Campos, a colleague told CNN. Campos had been leading flights for American Airlines since 2022. Thee. are part of the 67 people presumed dead, which includes 60 passengers, two flight attendants, and three U.S. soldiers who were aboard the Black Hawk that the jet collided with. A complete list of victims hasn’t dropped yet, but family members have shared that a lot of those lost in the crash were figure skaters and their families.
Lilley’s dad is a former Black Hawk pilot who used to spend a lot of time around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Pentagon, which just adds to the strangeness of it all. He’s fully aware of the chilling irony in this situation.
“I used to fly that exact same route that the helicopter that crashed was flying,” he said. “My goodness, I’d done that so many times. My brothers in the Army had something to do with the death of my son.”
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He also shared his anger with American Airlines, who he alleged dropped the ball on getting information to him during critical moments on Wednesday.
“American has not been good about giving me any information,” he said. So I called the hotline. All they do is they take your information and say they’ll call you back… And then I went to the crisis center and all they did was fill out some paperwork and say they’ll call you when have something for you to do. My ex wife is on her way here and his fiancée. We’re starting the grieving process. It’s going to be a long difficult process.”
