Doomed DC aircraft pilot and Massive Apple native Jonathan Campos was carrying certainly one of his most treasured possessions with him in the course of the air horror — the police badge of his beloved late NYPD dad.
Campos, 34, misplaced his cop dad, Feliberto Campos Jr., when he was solely 9, a devastating occasion that remained with him, household and associates stated.
He finally had his father’s badge quantity tattooed on his proper shoulder —and would fly with the badge after changing into a pilot, they stated.
Campos had the badge with him when the American Eagle passenger aircraft he was piloting crashed with a military Black Hawk helicopter in DC on Jan. 29, killing him and 66 others, stated his former fiancee, Nicole Suissa, exterior his wake in Brooklyn on Monday.
“Jonathan’s father was a NYPD officer,” Suissa, 34, informed The Publish. “His badge quantity was 4935. [Jonathan] preferred to fly with it.
“His mom gave it to him, and he stored it, he flew with it the day-of — crashed with it. And fortunately, his mother obtained it again on Friday,’’ she stated, referring to restoration efforts that yielded the badge within the wreckage.
“We thought we weren’t going to get it again. And by the grace of God, we obtained it again. His mom has it again. It’s her badge now. It’s our badge.”
Campos will now be buried subsequent to his father — and together with his flight wings, an extremely poignant tribute to his love of flying, Suissa added.
“I’m simply as impressed with him now as I used to be once I was a child,’’ stated the grieving girl, who was Campos’s high-school sweetheart.
“I keep in mind sitting with him exterior on a free interval, and I requested him, ‘What do you need to do with the remainder of your life?’ And he stated, ‘I need to be a pilot. … I don’t know what sort of pilot, however I’m going to be a pilot, perhaps a fighter pilot, perhaps an airline pilot.’
“And we grew up, and positive sufficient, he’s a pilot. I’m a lawyer. And I keep in mind him getting this job with PSA [Airlines] and flying for American Airways.
“And we went out to dinner, and I stated to him, you recognize, ‘No matter points had been, other than every little thing I’ve to say, I can’t inform you how happy with you I’m. You’re a pilot. You probably did it. You probably did every little thing you stated you had been going to do,’ ” she stated.
“I would like individuals to keep in mind that this can be a man that lived every single day like he had no days left,” Suissa stated.
“I don’t know that he has any regrets. I don’t assume he does. And he was energetic — bigger-than-life character.
“Yeah, he was 34. And that’s loopy younger to be dying. However he did a lifetime of residing.”
The previous fiancee gathered with different mourners on the Andrew Torregossa and Sons Funeral House to recollect Campos, whose pilot’s hat sat on his closed coffin together with heaps of roses and an American flag.
A number of pilots and flight attendants attended the wake in uniform.
Campos was born in The Bronx and grew up in Brooklyn, with household saying “he cherished quick autos and at all times needed to change into a pilot,” in keeping with his obituary.
“Jonathan’s ardour for aviation and love of flying in service of others was exhibited on a regular basis, in each supply to household and associates, each pleasant encounter together with his college students, each on-air announcement to his cabin and crew,” his household wrote.
“Jonathan lived and cherished his work,” they added.
About 100 individuals had been in attendance on the wake, sobbing as they approached the casket and knelt earlier than an image of Campos in his pilot uniform.
Sean Goldberg, 33, informed The Publish he grew up with Campos in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst neighborhood, describing the late pilot as a “respectful” man who at all times stood by his family and friends.
“He’s a gentleman … a person’s man,” Goldberg stated. “He took care of his household, he took care of his associates.
“The world mourns.”
Goldberg stated he was among the many many who tuned in on TV to study concerning the lethal crash, solely to study the heartbreaking information later that Campos was on that flight.
“I get the decision, and it’s him. The chances. The probabilities. The world misplaced a great man,” he added.
A number of of the flower wreaths surrounding the coffin had been despatched by PSA Airways, a subsidiary of American Airways the place Campos labored on the time of the crash, together with Delta Air Strains and JetBlue Airways.
One of many signed wreaths learn, “Captain Jonathan Campos will stay in our hearts eternally.”
The mourners spoke quietly with one another as they recalled the lifetime of the New York native who overcame adversity to make his desires of taking to the skies come true.
Campos’ life first took a flip when his dad handed away, leaving him to be raised by his mom and aunt.
He attended elementary college at PS 90, center college at IS 303, and graduated from John Dewey Excessive College in 2008.
He would then transfer to Daytona Seaside, Florida, to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical College and pursue his ambition of changing into a pilot.
Campos graduated with a Bachelors in Aeronautical Science in 2015 and later served as a flight teacher at Epic Flight Academy.
Three years later, Campos grew to become a captain at PSA Airways, which awarded him and the remainder of the flight crew a posthumous award of “highest distinction” on Sunday to honor their service.
Campos, First Officer and fellow pilot Samuel Lilley and flight attendants Danasia Elder and Ian Epstein had been among the many 67 individuals who misplaced their lives when the aircraft collided with the army chopper close to the Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport.
A water cannon salute was held on the airport Friday evening to honor Campos.
The funeral for the pilot might be held Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. at Brooklyn’s Shrine Church of St. Bernadette. Campos might be buried on the St. John Cemetery, in Center Village, the identical cemetery the place his father was buried.
A GoFundMe to assist Campos’ mom pay for the funeral bills has raised greater than $47,000 as of Monday afternoon.
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