Fox News TV !! Family of DC crash victim praises Trump for overhauling air traffic control system
Sam Lilley's dad Tim and stepmom Sheri join 'Fox & Friends' to discuss their take on the Trump administration's effort to overhaul the air traffic control system 100 days after the deadly collision. #foxnews #trump #donaldtrump #airtrafficcontrol #news
Sam Lilley's dad Tim and stepmom Sheri join 'Fox & Friends' to discuss their take on the Trump administration's effort to overhaul the air traffic control system 100 days after the deadly collision. #foxnews #trump #donaldtrump #airtrafficcontrol #news
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00:00This comes as we mark a tragic milestone. 100 days have passed since the mid-air collision
00:05over Washington, D.C. that left 67 dead. The families of those victims still demanding
00:12accountability. So our next guest lost their son, American Airlines pilot First Officer Sam Lilley,
00:18on that horrific night, and they say they're grateful for the President Trump's administration's
00:22plans to overhaul our air traffic control system. Sam's father and stepmother Tim and Sherry Lilley
00:28have been kind enough to join us this morning. Ma'am and sir, thanks so much for joining the
00:34program this morning. We continue to pray for your family as y'all grieve this tragic loss of your son.
00:42Thank you so much for having us. It's an honor to be here to tell Sam's story.
00:47So Tim, let's talk about what the President said when this first happened. He said,
00:52your son did nothing wrong. The pilots did zero wrong, that it was the helicopter that was in
01:00the wrong space. Now we have more evidence to suggest that. What do you want to change in the system?
01:08Well, I think the Army has a lot of work to do. There's cultural problem in the Army and Army
01:15Aviation where they need to get their recruiting and retention up for Army Aviation. They've lost a lot
01:23of experience and we just need to change some of the cultural problems there. They had normalized some
01:30unsafe acts. But more than that, I just really want to thank President Trump for his leadership
01:35in putting forth this program because we want to really make sure that no other family has to go
01:43through the loss that our family and the other 66 families have gone through. Sam was just a terrific
01:50young man and he was at the prime of his life. He was engaged to be married. He was about to make
01:57captain. Everybody loves Sam. He's left a huge hole in our family. We take solace in knowing that
02:04Sam's name was written in the book. And so he's flying now on Wings of Glory and we're going to see him
02:12again. But we miss him terribly. I miss him every day.
02:16And you know, Tim, not only are you a dad, but you're a pilot. I want to get your expertise,
02:20Blackhawk, in your background. But Sherry, for both of you to come out and speak publicly so soon
02:24after the accident and to probably play a role in fixing it, what went into that decision?
02:30You know, Sam was really, he was a very resilient and strong human being. This is to honor him. This
02:42is really all driven by creating a legacy for him. Out of respect for his memory and the memory of all
02:49of the other families impacted by this tragic accident. You know, we have been so encouraged by
02:56the urgency that Secretary Duffy is bringing to this situation. I was in D.C. yesterday at the
03:02press conference and I was encouraged by that coalition that he's brought together of industry
03:07leaders, trade associations, you know, executives from major aircraft manufacturers. I was just
03:15floored by the ability that he has had to pull together such a diverse group of people who all share the
03:22same goal. And that's really a tribute to their recognition and regard for those families, too.
03:30Tim, I know he had a passion for flying at a very young age. He wanted to follow in your footsteps,
03:36a 20-year veteran helicopter pilot as well. And he was flying the American Airlines flight,
03:41was about to get that promotion to captain. Did he ever, when we see the videos of what Donald Trump,
03:47what Duffy, what Sean Duffy is, is releasing those videos of this outdated equipment? I'm very glad
03:54that they're being transparent, but it's also scary because we all fly. It affects everyone around our
03:59country. Did your son ever complain to you about how outdated everything was and how did that affect
04:05him as a pilot? So, yeah, we, Sam and I talked quite a bit about flights into DCA and Ronald Reagan
04:14International and the challenges that come with that. Now, he didn't spend a lot of time in an air
04:20traffic control tower or at the TRACON, so he probably didn't realize just how outdated the
04:26system was. But I could tell you, for instance, I've been flying in and out of the New York area for
04:32the last few days, and we've been delayed every single day because the system just can't keep up with
04:38what's going on. This thing was designed decades and decades ago, and I'll tell you, Secretary Duffy,
04:44he gets it. We met with him just a few days after the accident. Everything that we asked for, he's
04:49taken action on. I asked him to do this at the speed of business and not the speed of government,
04:56and he's really coming through. And we just want, you know, every family deserves to know that their
05:03loved one is on a commercial aircraft is going to get there safely. And so this does, this goes
05:08both sides of the aisle. We're just looking for support from everybody. I think all Americans
05:14deserve safe skies. Tim, how does it make you feel that we're still getting reports that they
05:20continue these VIP flights, which is, they say, is for continuity of government, these training
05:27exercises? But it's a similar incident that caused the collision, and they just won't stop it. Have
05:35you heard anything about it? Yeah, that was troubling for more than one reason. I feel like the leadership
05:42had three months to relook at what they were doing in and out of the Pentagon and around DCA,
05:51and I don't think that they took that moral obligation as serious as they should have, because
05:56it only takes a minute to look at the procedure going out of the Pentagon and know you should not
06:02have a helicopter circling east of the Pentagon while there's aircraft, commercial aircraft,
06:07on approach to runway 19 at Ronald Reagan. So they really need to get down and get back to work
06:16and rethink the way they're doing things there. And I think Secretary Duffy has it right in saying,
06:22hey, sometimes it's better. You just need to take the SUV or even an Uber rather than put lives at risk.
06:28And Sherry, just use the power and your son's memory to make sure they don't play politics with this.
06:35And please don't give up.
06:38Thank you. We are in this for the long haul. Tim and I are adamant that we want to make the name
06:44Sam Lilly synonymous with aviation safety. Absolutely. Thanks, guys.
06:49God bless you. So sorry. Thank you.
06:51Thank you so much for having us. Thank you for coming on.
06:53Out of the whole infrastructure bill, they only got $5 billion for transportation.
06:57It's unacceptable. The Inflation Reduction Act, over a trillion dollars.
07:00No one thought we got to redo it. Congress has to help.
07:02We got to do better. What a beautiful family. And they're doing the right thing, keeping his memory alive.
07:06I'm Steve Doocy. I'm Brian Kilmeade. And I'm Ainsley Earhart.
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