ATLANTA—Sam Lilley knew he wanted to fly and began training to be a pilot, like his father, right out of college.
“You don’t really expect to meet people that find their purpose so early on in life, and Sam found his in flying,” said Kaitlin Sells, who met Lilley while they were students at Georgia Southern University.
Lilley was the first officer aboard the American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members that collided midair Wednesday night with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers, legislators in Georgia said.
Authorities say there were no survivors after the two aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River in the country’s deadliest aviation disaster since 2001. At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the icy waters of the river as recovery operations continue….