‘It hurts so bad’: Father identifies son as American Airlines pilot who died in collision with Army helicopter

(Gray News) - One of the American Airlines pilots who died in a collision with an Army helicopter Wednesday night has been identified by his father.

Timothy Lilley said his son, 28-year-old Samuel Lilley, was one of the pilots on the American Airlines who died in the crash Wednesday night.

“I was so proud when Sam became a pilot,” Timothy Lilley said in a Facebook post Thursday. “Now it hurts so bad I can’t even cry myself to sleep. I know I’ll see him again but my heart is breaking.”

Samuel Lilley is from Savannah, Georgia, and attended Georgia Southern University, according to WTOC.

A few minutes before the plane was set to land, air traffic controllers asked the pilots if they could land the jet on a shorter runway at Reagan International. The pilots said they could.

Controllers then cleared the plane to land and the plane adjusted its path to the new runway.

Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the Army helicopter if it could see the plane: “PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?” The controller made another radio call to the Army helicopter almost immediately: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.”

Seconds later, the Army helicopter and plane collided.

The passenger jet had 60 passengers and 4 crew members aboard.

Three soldiers were onboard the helicopter, an Army official said.

The collision prompted a large rescue and recovery operation in the nearby Potomac River.

U.S. Figure Skating said passengers on the jet included a group of figure skaters, their coaches and family members.