Posted on 02/03/2025
Brian Ellis, Navy grad and former helicopter pilot, among those killed in aircraft collision near Reagan airport
The 1993 graduate was a quarterback on football team
Brian Ellis, a 1993 Naval Academy graduate and former varsity football player, was among the 67 victims of Wednesday night’s midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Ellis was aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with an Army helicopter while attempting to land just before 9 p.m. Both the airliner and the helicopter plunged into the Potomac River and there were no survivors.
Ellis worked for Deloitte and was returning from a business trip to Kansas. The Charlottesville, Virginia, resident was 53.
“Our hearts go out to all those who experienced loss through this devastating event,” said John Schofield, spokesman for the Naval Academy Alumni Association. “Among those on board was one of our own — Brian Ellis, a former Navy football player and proud graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and the entire Naval Academy community who mourns his passing.”
American Airlines has not released the names of the passengers that were aboard Flight 5342, but the Ellis family provided permission for his name to be made public.
Ellis spent 22 years in the Marine Corps, serving as a helicopter pilot and achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel. He flew the Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion, a heavy lift helicopter. He was the weapons and tactics officer for his squadron before transitioning into the training command.
He returned to Pensacola Naval Air Station to serve as a flight instructor for Navy and Marine Corps officers in the Beechcraft T-34C Turbo Mentor.
“Brian was an exceptional performer as an officer and an aviator. He was an outstanding pilot and became a top-tier weapons and tactics instructor,” said Che’ Bolden, a Navy football teammate who roomed with Ellis during flight school at NAS Pensacola.
Ellis retired from the Marine Corps in 2015. His last assignment was as speechwriter for Gen. James F. Amos, 35th commandant of the Marine Corps.
Born James Brian Ellis on March 25, 1971, he grew up in Clayton County, Georgia. He was a standout athlete at Morrow High and was recruited to play football at the Naval Academy during the tenure of former coach Elliot Uzelac.
“Brian was a pure dropback passer and was recruited because Coach Uzelac was going to run a pro-style offense,” said Chad Chatlos, another Navy football teammate and classmate.
Uzelac was fired following the 1989 season and replaced by George Chaump, who changed the offense. Ellis was the backup quarterback behind starter Jim Kubiak as a junior and senior.
“Brian was always working uphill to try to get on the field,” Chatlos said.
Ellis got his chance to start in the second game of his senior season in 1992 after Kubiak was injured in the opener. However, he sustained a broken jaw in the game against Boston College. His jaw was wired shut for two months, but he returned in time to play briefly in the Army-Navy Game.
“Brian was definitely tough as nails and it was really a shame that he got hurt in the first game he got to start,” said Bob Kuberski, a standout defensive tackle at Navy who went on to play in the NFL. “Brian spent several months eating out of a straw, but he stayed positive and did whatever he could to help the team.”
Ellis was a two-year letterman for who appeared in 22 games as a junior and senior.
As an undergraduate, Ellis became very close with Bolden, Chatlos and Mark McGinnis, with all four going on to serve in the Marines. The group of Navy football players called themselves the “Four Amigos” and were inseparable.
“By junior year, we were all thick as thieves. We did all our cruises together and vacationed together,” Chatlos said.
Following graduation, they all served as graduate assistants for Navy football then started The Basic School together in January 1994.
“From 1989 when we were plebes until about 2000, we were pretty much together all the time. It has remained a really close-knit group over the years,” Chatlos said.
Navy football went 2-20 under Chaump during the junior and senior seasons for Ellis and his classmates. Chatlos, a defensive back, was captain of the 1992 team. Ellis was the backup quarterback, while Bolden was a reserve wide receiver.
“Brian and I spent a lot of time running second-team repetitions together,” Bolden said. “Brian worked really hard and stayed the course despite the disappointment of not playing much.”
Chatlos said by the time they were sophomores, his friend was known simply as “Ellis” and was a very popular member of the Navy football team. He described Ellis as a patriotic servant leader who was also a “very thoughtful, very diligent, very smart type of guy.”
“I talked to people who flew with Brian in the Marine Corps and they said he was one of the best helicopter pilots they’ve ever been around,” Chatlos said. “That a guy that flew all these dangerous missions as a helicopter pilot would be killed in a helicopter incident as a civilian is very ironic.”
Bolden roomed with Ellis while they went through The Basic School training at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. They roomed together again during flight school in Pensacola and played semi-pro football for the Lucky Green team in the North Florida Football League.
“Brian had a really dry sense of humor and was very self-deprecating,” Bolden said, adding that Ellis was also “fastidious” and “well organized,” Bolden said. “Brian was very, very fastidious. He was really well organized all the time.”
“Brian really was the best of us. He always made the right decisions. He was always very thoughtful and deliberate in all that he did,” said Bolden, who lives in McLean, Virginia.
Ellis is survived by his wife Amy and two sons — Jack, 23, a George Mason graduate, and Luke, 21, a senior at Purdue.
“Brian was a very humble, southern gentleman. He was quiet but had a funny side to him. He was a great teammate and very trustworthy person,” Kuberski said. “It’s really sad to see a former teammate have his life cut short way too soon.”
The Capital Gazette
2 February 2025
https://www.capitalgazette.com/2025/02/02/brian-ellis-navy-grad-and-helicopter-pilot-among-those-killed-in-aircraft-collision-near-reagan-airport/