TimothyLilley/Facebook
One of the two American Airlines pilots killed in a mid-air collision was identified Wednesday as a newly-engaged young man in the “prime of his life.”
First Officer Samuel Lilley was first identified in a report by the Daily Mail, which revealed heart-wrenching details about his personal life.
The 28-year-old Lilley was just months away from being promoted to captain—a big step in a “career that he adored,” his dad, Timothy Lilley, told the Mail.
Adding to the heartbreak, the grieving father revealed that Lilley was newly engaged.
“Samuel was in the prime of his life,” his dad said. “He was engaged to a beautiful, wonderful girl and we were all excited about her joining the family.”
Timothy told Fox 5 Atlanta that Wednesday was “undoubtedly the worst day of my life.”
The father added he was the person who broke the news to his soon-to-be daughter-in-law.
“So I called his fiancee, confirmed, like, hey was Sam in Wichita? Yes, he was, was he going to to DCA? Yes, he was,” he recalled to the Mail. “So then I had to tell her. It was just an ugly scene.”
It was hard for Timothy to stay composed himself.
“You know what, I was OK for five, maybe 10 minutes,” he said. “And then I bawled for 10 minutes. It’s a bitter, bitter pill to swallow.”
Lilley, who was based at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and had ties to Atlanta, was killed alongside Captain Jonathan Campos, a relative told the Mail.
Campos, 34, was born in New York but raised in Florida. He learned to fly at the Epic Flight Academy, earning certification to fly commercial jetliners in 2017.
The men are among 67 that are presumed dead, including 60 passengers, two flight attendants, and three U.S. soldiers who were in the Black Hawk that the jetliner collided with. A full list of victims is yet to be released, but loved ones have revealed that many killed in the crash were figure skaters and their families.
Lilley’s father is himself a former Black Hawk pilot who once frequented the area near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Pentagon, adding to the bizarreness of the situation. He acknowledged the chilling irony himself.
Emergency divers respond after a passenger aircraft collided with a helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River. / Andrew Harnik / Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“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.”
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.”
