In his final remarks before the tragic DC plane accident, the captain of the doomed American Airlines aircraft expressed his excitement about spending time with his family on a trip the next week.
During an interview from his Brooklyn, New York, home, Jonathan Campos’ sobbing uncle, John Lane, shared his last words.
“Campos, 34, was ‘living his dream’ as a pilot and even played with toy planes as a boy,” Lane said.
According to Lane, “He was such a good kid,” DailyMail.com reported.
“I spoke to him as he was boarding the plane. We spoke for 10 minutes. I can’t believe it. He sounded really happy.
He was excited for a cruise next week aboard the Icon of the Seas.
Ten family members planned to fly to Florida to join him for what was meant to be a grand celebration.
Just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday, doomed Flight 5342, carrying 67 passengers and crew, was nearing Reagan National Airport when it collided in a fiery explosion with an Army Black Hawk helicopter 400 feet above the Potomac River.
Among the victims was 29-year-old First Officer Samuel Lilley, recently engaged and just months away from being promoted to captain. Flight attendants Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder also lost their lives.
Jonathan Campos, another victim, had a lifelong passion for aviation. Lane told DailyMail.com that Campos had ‘loved’ his profession and had played with toy planes as a child.
Lane said, “He loved flying, it was his dream. He was living his dream. He played with toy planes when he was a kid. He wanted to qualify to fly bigger planes. We’re just sick right now. His mother isn’t doing well.”
Campos’ mother has traveled to Washington to make arrangements for his body.
The pilot, who lived in Orlando with his girlfriend, enjoyed playing football and basketball. He grew up in a modest apartment in Brooklyn’s working-class neighborhood of Coney Island before attending flying school six years ago.
‘He did so well with his life. We were all so proud of him,’ Lane said. ‘We’re all devastated. It’s such a loss.’
Campos studied aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in New Jersey, graduating in 2015. The institution expressed its sorrow, stating, ‘His family, as well as the families and loved ones of everyone affected by this tragic accident, are in our thoughts and prayers.’
He also trained at Epic Flight Academy in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, earning his qualification as a flight instructor.
The National Transportation Safety Board has recovered the ‘Black Box’ recorders from both aircraft involved in the crash—the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in 16 years.
More than 40 bodies have been pulled from the icy waters, with police divers continuing the search for others.
Among the young American figure skaters killed were Spencer Lane, 16, Brielle Beyer, 12, and Jinna Han, 13. The flight also carried renowned Russian skating duo Vadim Naumov, 56, and Evgenia Shishkova, 53.
Kiah Duggins, 30, a civil rights lawyer and former beauty pageant competitor, was returning to Washington after visiting her mother in Wichita. A Harvard Law School graduate, she previously interned at the White House during Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn campaign.
Also aboard was Grace Maxwell, a 20-year-old biomedical engineering student at Cedarville University in Ohio, traveling back to school.
Tragically, an entire family of four from Virginia perished. After 11-year-old Alydia and 14-year-old Everly competed in the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, they were returning home to Ashburn, Virginia, with their parents, Donna and Peter, when Flight 5342 went down. DC Plane Accident
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, the Black Hawk pilot, and crew chief Ryan O’Hara were also identified among the victims.
A preliminary FAA investigation has begun uncovering the catastrophic failures that led to this devastating aviation tragedy.
According to The New York Times, one air traffic controller was left to manage planes and helicopter traffic that night, which ought to have been a separate responsibility.
ccording to the report, those jobs are typically completed by two workers between 10 a.m. and 9.30 p.m.
Since there is less traffic at the airport later in the evening, the responsibilities are usually consolidated and delegated to a single individual after 9.30 p.m.
However, it has been claimed that a supervisor permitted one air traffic controller to leave work early by combining those responsibilities prior to the designated cutoff time. DC Plane Accident
The FAA report said that staffing configuration “was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic”.
The reason the supervisor allowed the employee to leave work early on Wednesday night, just before the airborne accident, remains unclear.
It has also been revealed that the Army helicopter involved in the collision, which was carrying three soldiers, may have strayed from its designated flight path.
Sources indicate that the pilot deviated nearly half a mile from the intended route and was flying 300 feet high, exceeding the permitted altitude of 200 feet.
