Aviation Can’t Keep Learning Safety Lessons the Hard Way

Ignored warnings, known risks, and a tragedy that never should have happened.

Tim Lilley

Thursday, January 29, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Ryan Ewing

NTSB investigators inspect wreckage of CRJ-700. [Credit: NTSB]

Key Takeaways:

The author, Tim Lilley, lost his son in a 2025 aviation accident, which he states was a "predictable outcome" of a culture that normalized unsafe acts and ignored known risks, rather than a single error.
A major unaddressed safety gap was the incomplete adoption of a 2008 NTSB recommendation for mandatory ADS-B In technology, crucial for pilot situational awareness in congested airspace, which the author believes could have prevented the tragedy.
Lilley calls for a shift from reactive, accident-driven rulemaking to proactive, data-driven regulation, urging Congress to pass the bipartisan ROTOR Act to mandate ADS-B In and for the industry to end complacency regarding known safety issues.

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Tim Lilley, the father of American Airlines Flight 5342 First Officer Sam Lilley, is a retired U.S. Army Black Hawk pilot and current commercial jet captain.

I have flown military helicopters and commercial jets for most of my adult life. I have come to understand risk. I understand complex systems. I also understand, in a way no parent ever should, what it means when those systems fail.