The pilots of the American Eagle jet in the mid-air crash horror over Washington DC are Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
Newly-engaged Lilley, 29, was months away from being promoted to captain in a career that he adored, his father Timothy told us in an exclusive interview.
Doomed Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas – carrying 60 passengers – collided in a massive fireball with an Army Black Hawk helicopter 400ft above the Potomac River as it was approaching Reagan National Airport just before 9pm Wednesday.
And in a further terrible twist to the tragedy, Lilley Sr revealed he himself is a former Army Black Hawk pilot and had flown in the exact same area where the disaster happened.
‘Samuel was in the prime of his life. He was engaged to a beautiful, wonderful girl and we were all excited about her joining the family,’ he said.
Timothy, a former Army warrant officer who is now a private jet pilot, was at Teterboro Airport, New Jersey, when the crash happened – and is now in Washington.
But he initially had no idea his beloved son was one of the pilots who perished in the tragedy.
‘I saw the crash on the news. I didn’t think there was any way it was my son,’ he said. ‘But then I watched long enough to figure out it was my son’s airline and then I kind of know his schedule.
The pilot of the crashed American Airlines flight has been identified as Jonathan Campos, 34
Samuel Lilley, 29, has been revealed as the First Officer on board the doomed commercial flight he was newly engaged and months away from being promoted to captain in a career that he adored
‘And so I called his fiancee, confirmed, like, hey was Sam in Wichita? Yes, he was, was he going to to DCA? Yes, he was. So then I had to tell her. It was just an ugly scene.’
Of his own reaction, he said: ‘You know what, I was OK for five, maybe 10 minutes. And then I bawled for 10 minutes. It’s a bitter, bitter pill to swallow.
‘But my son knows Jesus and that’s the part that makes it a little easier. But I’m still left behind. We’re all left behind. He was loved by so many people.’
Timothy and his former wife Sheri raised their pilot son in Savannah, Georgia, where he proudly graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2018.
‘At first he went into marketing and he called me after two months and said, dad, I hate my job,’ said Lilley Sr. ‘And so I helped him find his new career path – and he was really good at it.
‘His career was really blossoming. Things were very good for him.
‘The irony is that I was a Black Hawk helicopter pilot for 20 years and I used to fly that exact same route that the helicopter that crashed was flying.’
Bravely continuing to speak less than 18 hours after the tragedy, he reflected: ‘My goodness, I’d done that so many times. My brothers in the Army had something to do with the death of my son.’
The moment a military helicopter crashed into the American Airlines commercial flight that was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members and erupted into a fire ball
Almost all flight have been cancelled in and out of Reagan National Airport after the American Airlines air disaster Wednesday evening
Dawn began to break over the Potomac River in Washington D.C. as first responders worked through the night to recover what’s left behind after the American Airlines plane collision with a military helicopter
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US figure skating team member Spencer Lane, 26, shared this photo from inside the doomed American Airlines plane as it took off from Wichita Airport in Kansas on Wednesday evening
Of his son’s career path, he said: ‘He loved working at PSA and he was just about to make captain. In fact we last talked two or three days ago and that was what we were talking about.
He was real close to qualifying. I talked to him all the time, we’d talk about flying all the time. I was thrilled to know he was getting so far.’
Lilley Sr was speaking as his ex-wife was on her way to DC. But he had harsh words for American Airlines as he struggled to get information about his son – eventually resorting to call the company’s hotline.
‘American has not been good about giving me any information. So I called the hotline. All they do is they take your information and say they’ll call you back,’ he told us.
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.
The former couple’s son was based at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, a major US hub for American Airlines, which uses American Eagle as regional carrier. He graduated as an airline pilot ion 2022.
Campos was born in New York but grew up in Florida. He attended the Epic Flight Academy where he was certified as a flight instructor in 2017 and as a commercial airline pilot one year later, according to the company’s records.
Lane also posted images of him skating shortly before the crash
Russian figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov are reported to have been on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into a Black Hawk helicopter
Vadim Naumov (right) and his wife Evgenia Shishkova (not pictured) told their son Maxim (left) they were ‘proud’ of him before boarding the doomed American Airlines flight
First responders rushing on the scene last night to assess the damage of the devastating collision, official have said there are no survivors out of the 60 passengers and four crew members on board the American Airlines flight
His uncle Hector Campos told DailyMail.com that his nephew lived for the aviation business, telling DailyMail.com: ‘He loved it.’
Hector added: ‘We just confirmed the news. We are in complete shock.’
More to follow…
