The heartbroken girlfriend of fallen DC pilot Capt. Jonathan Campos wept as she instructed mourners at his Brooklyn funeral Tuesday that it’s “not possible to fathom how I’ll face the times to return with out him.”
The tragic pilot’s household, mates and colleagues — together with many of their flight uniforms — gathered on the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette in Dyker Heights to pay their final respects to Campos, a 34-year-old Queens native who died late final month when his passenger jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in DC.
Longtime girlfriend Ashley Childress mentioned by means of tears on the service that she’d spent the previous decade constructing a life with the outgoing, gregarious Campos — and he or she wasn’t certain what to do now.
“What an incredible life it was — and what an incredible life collectively we lived,” she mentioned. “The reminiscences and legacy Jon is abandoning is a pure reflection of the life he lived and the particular person he was.
“It’s not possible to fathom how I’ll face the times to return with out him.”
Campos grew up in Brooklyn, the son of an NYPD cop. His belowed father died when he was 9, main Campos to take his dad’s badge with him when flying.
Campos had the badge on him whereas piloting American Eagle Flt. 5342 when it crashed into the army chopper in a surprising midair collision over Washington on Jan. 29, killing him and 66 others. The badge was recovered from the wreckage and given to his household.
The passenger jet — operated by the American Airways regional subsidiary PSA Airways — was descending towards Reagan Worldwide Airport after leaving Wichita, Kan., when it slammed into the Black Hawk, sending each plane plummeting into the Potomac.
Sixty passengers and 4 crew members folks aboard the American jet have been killed, in addition to the three troopers within the chopper.
Dion Flannery, the airline’s president and CEO, mentioned at Campos’ funeral that the pilot was referred to as a sort man and a talented flyer.
“There was a deep appreciation for him as secure, skilled aviator, as a trusted colleague and as a heat, thoughtful pal,” Flannery mentioned. “Jonathan liked what he did. And he wore a everlasting smile on his face at work.”
Colleagues wiped away tears as they stood in a sorrowful semicircle outdoors the Roman Catholic church to look at because the pallbearers hoisted his casket into the hearse.
“Jonathan actually was a one-in-a-million particular person — he simply had such a enjoyable character,” mentioned Capt. Chas Connors, a Delta pilot who met Campos in faculty 11 years in the past, to The Publish. “It was not possible to not have enjoyable simply being round him. He was a really adventurous particular person.”
Campos was additionally a mechanic and had his helicopter license, Connors mentioned — “He simply lived aviation.”
However above all, he was a incredible pilot, colleagues mentioned.
“I keep in mind the primary time he and I flew collectively, I used to be virtually embarrassed at how significantly better he was at flying a airplane than I used to be,” Connors mentioned. “I used to be similar to, ‘Oh my gosh!’ It was embarrassing to me how significantly better he flew. … So unimaginable.”
Throughout the hour-long service, Childress mentioned Campos had a litany of hobbies outdoors work resembling touring, engaged on his bike, parsing by means of shops for coral or fish for his or her aquarium and hitting automobile reveals and gun reveals.
Comply with the NYP’s protection of the lethal DC airplane collision
“We have been there and we did all of them collectively. … John’s love for all times consumed my world,” she mentioned. “He made me braver than I believed I might ever be.
“His goals turned my goals, his targets turned a part of my targets,” she sai. “I suppose that’s what it’s like whenever you’re in love along with your greatest pal: No secrets and techniques too massive, no story too small. And everyone knows that he had loads of tales to inform.”
He additionally liked folks, she mentioned. And he would strike up conversations all over the place, casually making mates as she stood beside him in amazement.
“Thanks for instructing me to step out of my consolation zone and accepting each a part of me after I couldn’t,” she mentioned, addressing her late love.
“You made certain I felt liked, appreciated and, most significantly, completely satisfied.
“I’m undecided easy methods to face the times forward with out my soul mate,” she mentioned.
“So I’ll maintain firmly to the reminiscences of what it’s prefer to have and love that particular person – my John, my soul mate and my greatest pal.
“I at all times knew I might love you ceaselessly. Thanks for the final 10 years.”
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