A commercial airplane takes off from Ronald Reagan International Airport past crosses and flowers at a memorial near the airport on Feb 2, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt, AFP, Getty Images via TNS)
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Sam Lilley, the airline pilot killed in a midair collision with a U.S. Army helicopter near Washington on Jan. 29, will be remembered in a public memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Georgia Southern University Armstrong campus’ Fine Arts Hall.
Lilley’s funeral and burial will be a private service for friends and family only.
A Richmond Hill native and Georgia Southern graduate, Lilley was the first officer on the American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The aircraft crashed into the helicopter while on approach to land. The chopper, a Black Hawk, was conducting a training flight out of Davison Army Airfield in nearby Fairfax County, Virginia.
All 67 people involved in the crash, including the three military service members aboard the helicopter, died in the accident, making it the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States in 24 years.
Lilley’s remains were flown home to Georgia on Feb. 8. The airplane carrying his body received a water cannon salute upon landing at Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport.
Lilley, 28, flew two years for American’s regional jet service partner PSA Airlines. He was on track to earn a promotion to captain this year. He entered flight training in 2019 after studying marketing at Georgia Southern.
Lilley lived in Charlotte and was engaged to Lydia Coles at the time of his death. The couple were to wed later this year.
His obituary, printed this week in The Charlotte Observer, noted his “passion for aviation was second only to his passion for those he loved. That love was at the heart of who he was, shaping his career in the skies and the relationships he built along the way.”
His father, Timothy, was also a pilot — he flew helicopters in the U.S. Army for 20 years before retiring. He told Atlanta’s Fox 5 he captained many flights in and out of the Pentagon, which neighbors Reagan National Airport along the Potomac River, and is familiar with the airspace where the crash happened. He speculated the helicopter pilot make a “grave error.”
The accident remains under investigation.
Congressman Buddy Carter (R- St. Simons Island), whose district stretches the length of the Georgia coast, honored Lilley in remarks on the U.S. House floor last week. He said Lilley’s passing “leaves an unimaginable void in the lives of those who loved him, but his memory will forever remain in their hearts.”
One of Lilley’s childhood friends, Pastor Shane Therault of Coastal Community Christian Church, will lead Saturday’s memorial service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made in Lilley’s name to the Renegade Paws Rescue, Samaritan’s Purse or another charity that supports the values he held dear.
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