The four-member flight crew of American Airlines flight 5342, operated by a PSA CRJ-700, has been identified.
Four-Member Crew Of Downed American Airlines Jet Revealed
American Eagle flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter 400ft above the Potomac River in Washington, DC as it was approaching Washington National Airport (DCA) minutes before 9:00 pm on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.
PSA Airlines is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Airlines and the flight was operated by Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-700, registration number N709PS, manufactured in September 2004 for US Airways.
The CRJ-700 has two pilots and two flight attendants onboard and their identities have now been revealed:
- Captain Jonathan Campos, 34
- First Officer Samuel Lilley, 29
- Flight Attendant Danasia Elder
- Flight Attendant Ian Epstein
Lilley’s father spoke with the UK Daily Mail:
“I saw the crash on the news. I didn’t think there was any way it was my son. But then I watched long enough to figure out it was my son’s airline and then I kind of know his schedule. And so I called his fiancee, confirmed, like, hey was Sam in Wichita? Yes, he was, was he going to to DCA? Yes, he was. So then I had to tell her. It was just an ugly scene.
“You know what, I was OK for five, maybe 10 minutes. And then I bawled for 10 minutes. It’s a bitter, bitter pill to swallow. But my son knows Jesus and that’s the part that makes it a little easier. But I’m still left behind. We’re all left behind. He was loved by so many people.”
Interestingly, Lilley, Sr. was a former Black Hawk helicopter in the US Army, “The irony is that I was a Black Hawk helicopter pilot for 20 years and I used to fly that exact same route that the helicopter that crashed was flying.”
A passenger manifest is just emerging and many figure skaters were onboard. US figure skating team member Spencer Lane, 26, shared the photo below on Instagram from onboard the doomed American Airlines jet as it took off from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport:
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the lost.
images: Facebook
May the memory of each of the 67 souls lost be a blessing to their families and loved ones. It is utterly despicable, disgusting, and beyond contempt, that that Orange piece of shit is blaming Obama, Buttigieg, and the democrats in general for what appears to be a tragic pilot error by a member of the military. It’s too bad that the Mango Mussolini and his cast of fascists weren’t the ones on that plane. That would “make America great.”
While I agree with your prayers for the families,,there has been a shortage of ATC controllers for years, and FAA had very little leadership during last months of the previous administration,,,DOT leadership told over and over,,hire and train more controllers,,,ignored or very little done…and the Washington Post now reporting DCA tower was undermanned last night,,,,arrivals ATC working a position 2 should have been assigned to,,so there IS some blame for previous lack of action by multiple Administrations…..
Democrats hate taking responsibility.
They are responsible for this because they don’t care about qualifications or staffing.
The faa as it is today is the Faa and atc system that biden and obama destroyed of the course of decades.
With lots of unknowns remaining, there is zero speculation that the plane did anything wrong. It’s a shame there was nothing the crew could have realistically done to avoid this.
Too many aircraft in the air at the same time , going the same places , crossing each one another’s routes , all to make extra profit for the airlines and manufacturers .
Too few air traffic controllers , each managing too many aircraft .
Complacency on the part of too many , thinking of ways to attract more and more revenue customers .
What might go wrong ?
Answer : everything .
Meanwhile , many politicians and so-called “experts” all talking “hot air” about things which are not yet known .
I definitely was on a flight last year with the male flight attendant. So sad.
NEAL Z above is actively calling for the death of the sitting US president and his cabinet. Paging the FBI….
The Name calling and blame game needs to be omitted.
I have a flight attendant daughter grieving for her coworkers right now and our prayers for these family members is what’s needed right now . T his is tragic all the way around and cannot be undone as we wish it could be. Let us all remember that when posting responses and emotions. A lot are hurting . Be kind.
+1 . Yes .
Well said! Thoughts and prayers for everyone who is grieving right now.
Meanwhile the orange thing is blaming this tragedy on DEI programs at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Its because he’s right. The faa cut the CTI program in 2013 because the people it was sending to the FAA were “too white” and thus because of that they are short staffed.
Very tragic accident. The flight crew were not American Airlines emloyees, rather an American Airlines feeder named PSA.
Yes, but as I mentioned, PSA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group.
This accident hits hard for me, since I have a huge love for aviation, and my job is managing a ice skating rink with figure skating athletes. I know many people who went to Wichita for the competition and were returning back home. Some of the skaters at my rink knew many of these people on the plane. RIP.
My prayers for the lost souls, families and friends. And thinking of Mr Lilley and the pain of discovering the loss of his son. God be with you sir.
I’ve always thought that DCA was an accident waiting to happen. It should be downsized. Go down to 10-12 landings per hour. If necessary, have a 500 mile perimeter rule. Dulles is more like a real airport. Even better, cap the number of landings and take offs to the number of gates at Dallas Love. Let Love Field expand by 20 more gates, which there is plenty of room to do so, then increase the number of landing and take slots by 20 per hour.