The grieving father of the 28-year-old American Airlines pilot is seeking stricter regulations in the wake of a catastrophic air collision near Washington, D.C.
Sam Lily said that when a US Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with an airplane, two aircraft jumped into the Potomac River on January 29th while the plane was descent at Ronald Reagan International Airport, the American Airlines 5342. He was the assistant officer of Flight 5342. .
All 67 people on both aircraft have died, making it the country's most fatal air disaster since 2001.
“[Sam] Former Army helicopter pilot Timothy Lilly told Fox News Digital. “He was doing great things in his personal life, he was set up to get married.”
Timothy Lilly served in the Army flying Black Hawk helicopters for 20 years – the same aircraft that his son collided with the plane he was flying with, piloting the medical helicopter and later on to the local airline. I participated.
In the wake of his son's death, Timothy has used his experience of calling on lawmakers and military officials to enact change, promising that part of Sam's legacy is aviation safety.
Now he asks the military to stop flight operations at civilian airports, improve training for pilots, and require aircraft to request operational traffic warning and collision avoidance systems (TCAS) within Class B airspace. It's there.
Currently, according to Lily, military aircraft do not need to be equipped with TCAs when flying in Class B airspace.
“It is said that most aviation regulations are written in blood, and that's true,” Lily said. “That means something terrible has to happen for us to make a difference.”
Lily plans to testify before Congress, and said high-level army officials are accepting his proposal and paving the way for a safer sky future.
Lily believes that Sam's passion for flight grew from seeing him as a pilot.
After completing his degree in marketing and logistics from Georgia Southern University, Sam moved to aviation. He began flight training in 2019, and the following year he obtained his commercial license and became a flight instructor. Two years before crashing, he began flying for American Airlines' regional airline PSA.
“If he stayed at PSA long enough, he would have ended up at American Airlines,” Lily said. “He wanted to become an international captain and fly the 777 to Europe and Asia.”
Sam is engaged to his longtime girlfriend Lydia, and the two were planning to start a family. The day before his death, Sam's mother went to the wedding venue for the couple, and the ceremony was scheduled for the fall.
However, Sam's dream came to a halt when the aircraft and helicopter collided and crashed into the ice Potomac on January 29th.
Timothy Lilly was in New York City for work in the event of a crash, but initially saw the incident report on the news.
Follow the news of the NYP fatal DC plane crash
“I noticed there was a crash drop on the plane. Of course, it sparked my interest,” Lily said. “But there was a million chances that it would become Sam.”
When Lily realized that the plane was owned by the PSA, he contacted Sam, but never confirmed anything unthinkable.
Lily travels to a tragic location and begins to connect what caused Sam's plane to crash, but many of his questions remain unanswered.
Investigators are working to retrieve data from the black boxes of helicopters that sustained flooding during recovery efforts. Audio recordings from Sam's aircraft confirmed that the pilot tried to avoid the impact.
“The crew responded verbally,” said Bryce Bunning, an investigator with the NTSB.
According to Banning, data recorders on the plane show that “the planes are beginning to increase their pitch.” “The shock sound was heard about a second later, then continued at the end of the recording.”
A full National Road Safety Commission investigation could take up to a year, but authorities hope to prepare a preliminary report within 30 days. Investigators are also considering the possibility that the airport's control towers may not be fully staffed at the time of the crash.
Until the investigation is complete, the victim's family can only speculate about the conflict in which a loved one was killed. Lily believes he can provide a unique perspective as a former Black Hawk pilot who has flew the same Potomac route “hundreds of times.”
“There are hundreds of things out there that could have been wrong,” Lily said. “Maybe both pilots looked at the radio right away and bowed their heads. Maybe they thought another aircraft was that. Maybe they said it was an aircraft. I thought, maybe they were doing emergency procedures training and they were distracted by it. I don't know what happened in that cockpit.”
Despite the tragedy, Lily finds peace among the families of the other victims and by honoring his son.
Lily told Fox News Digital that his local Georgia community was gathering around his family and that his company sent a private jet to transport Sam's loved one to the crash location.
“There were 67 people who lost their lives. And there were new widows and new orphans, and families who lost two children, Olympic hopefuls and a large caliber lawyer,” Lily said. Ta. “All people involved in this accident are [airplane]. ”
He is also looking for ways to honor his son, such as seeking aviation safety and getting a tattoo to remember Sam.
PSA Airlines has given Sam the title of honorary captain after his death, saying that “the title reflects not only his technical expertise but also his deep impact on the airline.”
American Airlines did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
“It was a tragedy and these lives ended before we were all ready,” Lily told Fox News Digital.
