The grieving father of the 28-year-old American Airways pilot is looking for stricter laws within the wake of the devastating midair collision close to Washington, D.C.
Sam Lilley was the primary officer on American Airways Flight 5342 when a US Military Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with the aircraft, inflicting the 2 plane to plunge into the Potomac River through the aircraft’s descent into Ronald Reagan Worldwide Airport on Jan. 29.
All 67 individuals aboard each plane have been killed, making it the nation’s deadliest air catastrophe since 2001.
“[Sam] was doing nice in his profession,” Timothy Lilley, a former Military helicopter pilot, advised Fox Information Digital. “He was doing nice in his private life, he was set to be married.”
Timothy Lilley served 20 years within the Military flying Black Hawk helicopters – the identical plane that collided with the aircraft his son was flying – earlier than piloting medical helicopters and later becoming a member of a regional airline.
Within the wake of his son’s demise, Timothy is leveraging his expertise to name on lawmakers and navy officers to enact change, promising that a part of Sam’s legacy can be aviation security.
Now he’s asking the navy to stop flight operations at civilian airports, revamp coaching for pilots and require plane to have an operational Site visitors Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) whereas inside Class B airspace.
Presently, navy plane will not be required to be geared up with TCAS when flying in Class B airspace, which includes the most important civilian airports throughout the nation, in accordance with Lilley.
“It’s been mentioned, and it’s true, that almost all aviation laws are written in blood,” Lilley mentioned. “That implies that one thing horrible has to occur for us to make a change.”
Lilley is planning to testify in entrance of Congress and mentioned that high-level Military officers have been receptive to his strategies, paving the best way for a way forward for safer skies.
Lilley believes that Sam’s ardour for flying grew from watching him as a pilot.
After incomes a level in advertising and logistics from Georgia Southern College, Sam shifted to aviation. He began flight coaching in 2019, obtained his industrial license the next 12 months and have become a flight teacher. Two years earlier than the crash, he started flying for American Airways’ regional airline, PSA.
“If he stayed at PSA lengthy sufficient, he was going to finish up at American Airways,” Lilley mentioned. “He needed to be a global captain and fly the 777s to Europe and Asia.”
Sam was additionally engaged to his long-time girlfriend, Lydia, and the 2 have been planning on beginning a household. The day earlier than his demise, Sam’s mom went wedding ceremony venue purchasing for the couple, with the ceremony scheduled for the autumn.
Nevertheless, Sam’s goals have been halted when the plane and helicopter collided, plunging into the icy Potomac on Jan. 29.
Timothy Lilley was in New York Metropolis for work on the time of the crash, initially seeing studies of the incident on the information.
Comply with the NYP’s protection of the lethal DC aircraft collision
“I spotted there had been a aircraft crash, which, in fact, sparked my curiosity,” Lilley mentioned. “However the likelihood of it being Sam was one and 1,000,000.”
When Lilley realized the aircraft was owned by PSA, he reached out to Sam however by no means heard again, confirming the unthinkable.
Lilley traveled to the positioning of the tragedy and commenced piecing collectively what had precipitated Sam’s aircraft to crash, however a lot of his questions stay unanswered.
Investigators are working to retrieve information from the helicopter’s black field, which sustained water injury throughout restoration efforts. Audio recordings from Sam’s plane confirmed that the pilots tried to evade impression.
“The crew had a verbal response,” Brice Banning, NTSB investigator in cost, mentioned.
The info recorder throughout the plane exhibits “the airplane starting to extend its pitch,” in accordance with Banning. “Sounds of impression have been audible about one second later, adopted by the top of the recording.”
An entire Nationwide Transportation Security Board investigation may take as much as a 12 months, however authorities are hoping to have a preliminary report inside 30 days. Investigators are additionally wanting into the chance that the airport’s management tower was not totally staffed on the time of the crash.
Till the investigation concludes, victims’ households can solely speculate in regards to the collision that killed their family members. Lilley, as a former Black Hawk pilot who flew the identical Potomac route “a whole lot of occasions,” believes he can provide a singular perspective.
“There are a whole lot of issues that would have gone flawed in there,” Lilley mentioned. “Possibly each pilots had their heads down wanting on the radio directly, possibly they thought a unique plane was that one, possibly they noticed lights on the bottom and thought it was the plane, possibly they have been doing an emergency process coaching, they usually have been distracted by that. I don’t know what occurred in that cockpit.”
Regardless of the tragedy, Lilley is discovering peace among the many households of the opposite victims and by honoring his son.
Lilley advised Fox Information Digital that his native Georgia group has rallied round their household, along with his firm sending a personal jet to move Sam’s family members to the positioning of the crash.
“There have been 67 individuals who misplaced their lives, and there have been households there that had new widows and new orphans and who misplaced two youngsters and Olympic hopefuls and high-caliber attorneys,” Lilley mentioned. “Each single particular person concerned on this accident, I’d wish to be buddies with – each within the Black Hawk and within the [airplane].”
He’s additionally searching for methods to honor his son, together with pushing for aviation security and getting a tattoo in remembrance of Sam.
PSA airways has posthumously awarded Sam with the title of honorary captain, saying in an announcement that “the title displays not solely his technical experience but additionally the profound impression he had on our airline household.”
American Airways didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark.
“It’s a tragedy, these lives ended manner earlier than any of us have been prepared for it,” Lilley advised Fox Information Digital.
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