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Tim Lilley is Interviewed about His Son Who Died in American Airlines Flight; Dr. James McDonald is Interviewed About New York closing Poultry Markets; Super Bowl Highlights. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 10, 2025 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: American Eagle Operator PSA announced Lilley would be posthumously promoted to honorary captain for demonstrating, and I'm quoting here, "the highest standards of aviation excellence and extraordinary professionalism that inspired all who had the privilege of flying alongside him."

Joining us now this morning is Timothy Lilley, Sam's father.

First of all, thank you so much for coming and talking to us. I know that the memorial service is this week.

How are you going to remember your son? What should people know about your son Sam?

TIM LILLEY, FATHER OF AMERICAN AIRLINES PILOT SAM LILLEY: Well, I'll tell you, when that aircraft hit the Potomac, that a huge hole was left, not just in our family, but in the community. This hole is never going to be filled.

We all love Sam. And he was a happy person. Just constantly happy. He was a professional. He did a great job in his flying career. He was set to be married in October. My wife was looking at wedding venues just that very day that this happened, trying to lock that in. We were really excited about seeing where that family was going to go. I was really hoping to see some grandkids in the next few years that - some more grandkids. So - and we're really going to miss Sam.

But I want to say that there's 66 other stories. I haven't - I haven't seen one - one other victim that I wouldn't want to be friends with. And that includes the Black Hawk crew.

I just want everybody to know that that -- you know, I have 20 years experience flying Black Hawks and - and I think that that crew is an honorable, good crew that just, you know, had some bad mistakes that - that night. And I would say that everybody who's been in aviation long enough has - has made some mistakes. And just by the grace of God, we have not - we have not ended in this way.

So, like, they hit the opposite of the lottery. The chances of this happening were, you know, just out of this world.

SIDNER: Yes. LILLEY: But, you know, I know that when - when Sam's earthly life ended when he hit the Potomac. But his life with Jesus started right that minute. So, that gives us some - some comfort. And - and - and the whole country seems to be mourning with us. And that, you know, has been, you know, made it just a little easier to - to take.

But I - I have been in contact with the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center and the Department of Evaluation and Standardization. They're, you know, for Sam's legacy, we're - we're going to try to make some positive change to aviation safety. And the NTSB, they've got a lot of work to do. It's going to be - we're - we're looking for a preliminary report, you know, within a month, but also it's going to be about a year before we know all the details and what the recommendations are going to be.

So, I've called on the Army to make some changes right away. And I've got some positive feedback from them so far. And I'd like to see some things change that, you know, let's not wait a year to get going on this.

SIDNER: Yes.

LILLEY: Let's get this - the ball rolling right now.

So, for instance, there's a military frequency and a civilian frequency at - at every large airport. I'm asking the Army to stop using the military frequency and just talk on the civilian frequency. That way the jet can hear the helicopter. The helicopter can hear the jet.

I'm asking the Army to put four crew members on every Black Hawk when it goes out for NVG (ph) training. I'm asking the Army to revamp all the training that - that's appropriate for this incident, like distance estimation and depth perception and night visual illusions, amongst other things. And I've got a positive response on that. And I'm asking them to do a safety stand down and just make sure everybody gets retrained on that. So -

SIDNER: Yes, you - as you said, Tim, it can't come fast enough for - for all of the families, but also for anyone who - who flies, which is, you know, so - so many people, whether they are in the military or they are civilians.

I'm curious what kind of communication that you have received, if any, about the investigation. Are you hearing from investigators beyond your conversations with the military?

LILLEY: Yes, I exchange an email with the NTSB every single day. Sometimes two or three times a day. I'm really looking forward to getting the - to hear the voice recordings that were in the Black Hawk that's - that - that crew lost situational awareness. And - and I think that all the clues to what happened and why they lost situational awareness are in - are on that voice recording. So, as soon as that's available, I may have a lot more recommendations to what - to things we - we can do right away to change.

[09:35:05]

Another thing that I would like to see the FAA do right away, or as soon as possible, is to make sure everybody that's operating in this sort of airspace, like, this is the most controlled airspace in all of the United States is at Washington, D.C., yet tis happened here. But I'm going to ask the FAA to please require everybody to have a TCAS system, even the military, and on and operational when they're using it. The only time that I think that they should be able to turn it off is when it's absolutely operationally necessary for - for secrecy, if there's a real live mission going on.

SIDNER: Yes, those are all really good points and things that have been discussed certainly. But you're going straight to the FAA and straight to the military to ask for this.

I am curious if there is anything that you would like us to know about your son. I know he was about to get married. And you were looking forward to a joyous time. And now you are in the worst kind of mourning, a parent having to - to bury a son.

What is it that you want people to know about him? Because now we know that - that he was a pilot who was - who was on the verge of starting sort of a new life.

LILLEY: Well, I - you know, what - what can you say when you lose a child? You know, no - no parent should have to go through that. And no community should have to grieve him.

But I - I literally don't know a single person that didn't like Sam and didn't enjoy being around him. So, you know, it's a terrible loss. It's just a terrible loss.

SIDNER: I know that you are demanding changes, and you have spelled out some of those changes. Have you heard from the president? Have you talked to the president about the changes that you have been asking for?

LILLEY: I haven't been able to talk to the president yet. That - I believe that we will have that conversation sometime soon.

SIDNER: All right, Tim Lilley, I know you were preparing -

LILLEY: I have talked to -

SIDNER: Go ahead.

LILLEY: Go ahead.

I have - I have talked with four members of Congress who were - every one of them was sympathetic and supportive of what I had to say.

SIDNER: All right, so it sounds like that potential progress could happen partly because of your experience as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot and what has happened to your family in light of this tragedy.

Tim Lilley, thank you so much for taking the time this morning to talk with us. Appreciate you.

LILLEY: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

SIDNER: All right, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:01]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning we are learning that the bird flu virus is mutating in a way that could make it easier to spread to mammals, including potentially humans.

This is after a new variant of the virus was detected in herds of dairy cows in Nevada. And also separately, officials in New York are taking action over concerns there. New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, ordered dozens of live bird markets to be temporarily closed after inspectors found seven cases of the virus in poultry over the past week. Separately, 15 birds have died at two New York City zoos after possible exposure to the virus.

Let's get the very latest on this. Joining us right now is the New York state health commissioner, Doctor James McDonald.

Commissioner, thank you so much for your time.

Let's start first with these live bird markets. What is the fear and risk posed in finding bird flu at these markets?

DR. JAMES MCDONALD, NEW YORK STATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER: Yes. So, good morning.

So, keep in mind, the - the virus we're talking about, H5N1 the strain we're talking about that we saw in the live bird markets is the avian strain. It's a little bit different than the ones that occurred in cows. So, the risk for human beings is very, very low. And keep in mind, you know, as much as we talk about H5N1 and we're very vigilant about this in New York, we've only seen 67 human cases in the United States. And generally, almost all of those cases, we were able to connect it to an exposure, whether it was to a dairy worker or generally to someone who worked with poultry.

So, right now, we're being very vigilant about this. What we did in New York was prudent. We really got ahead of this because we found these cases doing surveillance. So, this is really, I think, just a good example of how prevention works.

BOLDUAN: A testament to why surveillance is important, because you get to it before it becomes a huge problem.

How - what is the next step in - in staying vigilant? I saw you say that you're prepared to - the state's prepared for widespread testing should that be necessary. It made me wonder what the benchmark would be to indicate that it's needed.

MCDONALD: Yes, so, I think this just speaks to preparedness, right? Like, in other words, we all went through the pandemic and we were like, well, what is this, right? But when we think about H5N1, it's an influenza a virus. Right now, though, the risk to humans is low. But when you think about testing, I have Wadsworth, one of the most amazing state health labs in the country. So, if we had to build up testing, we could do that. There's a whole network of labs that can do that. But right now we're so far away from human cases, this is preparedness. This is - this is something we need to have. Don't get me wrong, we're ready for this. And this came out of all kinds of work we did, way even before the pandemic. Lessons learned during the pandemic. So, we have the supplies. We're ready if we need it. But we're very far away from that.

Because we even have - even had one human case of H5N1 in New York, I'm not asking for one, but we're looking for them. And that's part of why we're just continuing to be vigilant in New York. And that's why we do - what we do to train local health departments, work with our other state agencies, ag and markets, department of environmental conservation.

[09:45:05]

We're really just trying to be vigilant to be all over this issue, just to eliminate the threat for New Yorkers.

BOLDUAN: It's important that, obviously, public health officials like yourself remain vigilant. But for the general public here, the CDC - you are saying the CDC has made very clear that the risk of human infection remains very low. But how do people, just the general public - what should the general public know? How can they remain vigilant and be helpful in trying to avoid hopefully ever seeing a human case of bird flu in the state?

MCDONALD: You know, so when you think about any infection, like, you have to be exposed. So, right now we think about who's most likely to be exposed. It's someone who's touching a dead animal or working with livestock or poultry. So, one, nobody should be touching dead animals unless you're trained to do that. And if you work with livestock or poultry, you should wear personal, protective equipment. If you're a member of the general public, this shouldn't be something you're doing.

Having said that, you know, hey, I'm the state health commissioner. I'm always going to tell you, you should be getting your seasonal flu vaccine. It won't protect you against H5N1, but no one wants to get the regular flu. And by the way, that's a concern too. And that's really what I want people to focus on a little bit is, H5N1, we're being vigilant and prudent. But my friends, I worry about you and the regular flu. I got people in the hospital, quite a few of them. I really want those who haven't had the flu vaccine to get protected, not to protect against H5N1, but the flu, which is something we have to keep in mind we still see at this time of the year.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Never a bad opportunity. Always a good opportunity to remind to get your seasonal - your seasonal vaccines.

Thank you so much, Doctor. Thank you for your time. Sara.

SIDNER: Kate, I'm not sure you know this, but the Philadelphia Eagles, they won the Super Bowl.

BOLDUAN: What?

SIDNER: Did you - did you not -

BOLDUAN: I watched it. Some of it.

SIDNER: In case you were living under a rock.

BOLDUAN: Some of it.

SIDNER: We're going to show you some highlights. And we're going to show you a little bit about what happened during the halftime show with lots of messages, political and some shade, of course, thrown at Drake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: It's the great American game.

KENDRICK LAMAR, RAPPER: You can speak with a vision and tongue, predicate this time is -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:43]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENDRICK LAMAR, RAPPER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They not like us.

LAMAR: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They not like us.

LAMAR: Are you my friend? Are we locked in? Then step this way. Step that way. Then step this way.

Let me hear you say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, the Eagles pecked away any hope for Chiefs three- peat, but that was Kendrick Lamar going hard against Drake there on the stage for the halftime performance. And of course, there's the battle for the audience with those television ads. Super Bowl Sunday was one for the books, as it always is. Here to talk through the highlights, Segun Oduolowu. I do it every time. I talked to him 170 million freaking times. You know what, I'm going to let Kendrick Lamar come for me, or you can, Segun, you can come for me as well. Brian Steinberg is also here, senior TV editor at "Variety."

All right, Segun, I'm going to start with you. Holy smokes, the stars came out, didn't they?

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, HOST, "BOSTON GLOBE TODAY": Yes, the stars were there. Move over Kevin Hart. Move over Bradley Cooper. I am the real Eagles fan.

SIDNER: Wow.

ODUOLOWU: We worked in Eagles fandom into my wedding vows.

But, I mean, starting with Lady Gaga, like on Bourbon Street, opening it up, white dress, black piano, singing about, you know, the tragic victims that happened January 1st in New Orleans. It was amazing. You saw stars everywhere. Paul McCartney and Adam Sandler in the same section. Kevin Costner sitting, you know, next to Pete Davidson. Stars were there. Jay-z was there, of course. Everywhere you looked, it was stars. And the Eagles put on a show.

BOLDUAN: The Eagles definitely put on a show. But the thing I know that I'm always watching is also the ads in between that show. The real show, if you will, guys.

Let me play one of my favorites, Brian, because it really just is fantastic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY CRYSTAL, ACTOR: Something wrong?

MEG RYAN, ACTRESS: It's not doing it.

CRYSTAL: No good?

RYAN: Nothing.

CRYSTAL: Well, we can't have that.

RYAN: Yes.

Mhm. Mhm mhm.

CRYSTAL: What's happening?

RYAN: Mhm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Just let it keep going, Brian.

Brian, what's the verdict, and what are the reviews on how great or non-great the Super Bowl ads were last night.

BRIAN STEINBERG, SENIOR TV EDITOR, "VARIETY": They were, you know, a lot of celebrities, couple inspirational things. The "Harry met Sally" was a good idea. The question was among the critics, do the younger people know this movie at all and do they relate to Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, except for Sydney Sweeney? So, a lot of great moments.

A lot of cringe moments, too. You know, as is typical Super Bowl, how it usually goes.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Segun, I think I'm in the minority. Certainly the minority in the morning television world. I actually watched football. Like, I watched the football game, number one. And the ad second. And the halftime show almost never because I also, unlike apparently everyone else in America, I have to go to the bathroom every once in a while.

SIDNER: Weird.

BERMAN: That said - that said - that said, I've read a lot about the halftime show, and I know, as can be said every year after the halftime show, boy, people are talking about that.

ODUOLOWU: Yes, and they - and they should. Look, look at my shirt. OK, this was got on - OK, on Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles representing for Kendrick because that was one of the best halftime shows I've ever seen.

[09:55:06]

And it really highlights the two Americas, right? There were so many subversive things. First, the a minor necklace, the pendant, that was brilliant. Sam Jackson, as an Uncle Sam, Uncle Tom, if you remember his Django character, and then telling them not to be so ghetto. But then Kendrick saying, I'm going to do it anyway. And then the be humble song where they're doing the American flag in unison. There were so many elements that Kendrick gave to, honestly, black excellence. Like that really felt like a Black History Month performance.

And I think if you go back and dissect it and watch it a couple of times, you will see elements that you missed. I thought it was brilliant. It was lyrically awesome. And again, we were in the living room I was in, we were screaming.

SIDNER: You were screaming. I was screaming. I have to say, there were so many messages, like you said, that if you - you need to go back and watch it if you are interested in what he's trying to say, because there is a message, not just to Drake, but there's a message about America.

ODUOLOWU: Yes.

SIDNER: So, it was - it was actually quite political, but people didn't notice because he's so brilliant with his wordsmith.

BOLDUAN: Because he's so good (ph).

SIDNER: Segun Oduolowu and Brian Steinberg, thank you both.

ODUOLOWU: Oh my God.

SIDNER: I did it.

ODUOLOWU: You got it.

SIDNER: Gold.

ODUOLOWU: You got it.

SIDNER: I'm the winner.

ODUOLOWU: (INAUDIBLE) right now. I'm Serena right now.

BOLDUAN: Wait for it.

Oh, my God.

Thank you so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "CNN NEWSROOM," up next.

SIDNER: That's the other football.

BOLDUAN: The other -

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)