Jesni Sam had eagerly awaited the everyday joys of building a life with her husband.
But a week after she and Dave Fiji exchanged vows, the young widow stood on a church stage in all black. Just a few feet in front of her, Fiji’s body laid in a silver casket surrounded by white flowers.
“I saved recipes I thought he would like, I spent a significant amount of time daydreaming about our future and making all kinds of plans for us to do together and with our families. I was looking forward to cooking for him, washing his clothes, packing his meals and taking care of him the way he took care of everybody else,” Sam told a room of a few hundred mourners during her late husband’s funeral Saturday morning.
Fiji and Sam boarded a helicopter late May 29 after their Dawson County wedding reception for what was meant to be a romantic getaway. The aircraft crashed not long after takeoff, killing the 25-year-old groom and the pilot. Sam was rescued from the wreckage in a wooded area and treated at a hospital.
At Saturday’s funeral at Praise Community Church in Lawrenceville, she sat in the front row with her right leg slightly elevated on a short stool.
When it was her time to speak, she seemed to take careful steps toward the stage with assistance from Fiji’s family. In the middle of her forehead was a small bandage.
A wedding and a helicopter crash
When Fiji was just a boy, all his toys were planes. He knew nearly every model by name, and his parents would often take him to aircraft museums and various air shows.
He seemed destined to become a commercial pilot, a dream he achieved.
So, it felt fitting for him and his wife to celebrate the start of their marriage with a helicopter ride. To Fiji’s family, his death is both tragic and, in a way, true to who he was.
“He was a pilot, and he was flying through the skies, and the skies became his memories. He loved the skies and he passed in the skies,” Jaison Mathew, a family member, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution during a recent phone interview.
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess/EyeAkili
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess/EyeAkili
The newlyweds’ helicopter left the wedding venue en route to the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, about 40 miles south by air. The couple planned to spend the night at a downtown Atlanta hotel, according to family.
But the ride ended in calamity when the helicopter struck tall trees and crashed in a heavily wooded area of Dawson County, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency investigating the collision. The pilot, Nikhil Nargundkar, also died.
The wedding day started off cloudy and muggy. North Georgia had endured heavy rain and flooding in the days before, but the skies had seemed to settle for the ceremony.
Fiji’s uncle, Jomy George, told the AJC by phone that the family had prayed for showers to hold off. The wedding ceremony was held outdoors at The Revere near Dawsonville, and the reception that followed was held indoors.
“They were just super happy and they looked absolutely gorgeous,” George said. “His face was actually glowing, and they were just happy kids.”
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess/EyeAkili
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess/EyeAkili
As nightfall approached, it began to drizzle. Mathew said he and his family had already left the venue before the couple took off in the helicopter.
On his drive back to Lawrenceville, where he was staying, Mathew said the rain picked up. He recounted being forced to slow down but said he wasn’t concerned about the newlyweds.
“I didn’t even think about anything going wrong with the helicopter,” Mathew said.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed with the AJC that a Robinson R66 crashed near Dawsonville around 10:35 p.m. Officials have not determined an exact cause of the collision.
The NTSB said Thursday that meteorologists are conducting a study to understand “impacts that weather may have had on the flight.” The agency added that preliminary information shows the “potential” for rain, low-level clouds and thunderstorms in the area.
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess/EyeAkili
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess/EyeAkili
Additional documentation of the aircraft’s systems and engine must still be completed, according to the NTSB.
The FAA said the aircraft belonged to Prestige Helicopters, a metro Atlanta-based company whose website says it provides tours and charter flights.
Prestige Helicopters and the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office have not returned calls and emails from the AJC.
A family’s worst nightmare
It wasn’t until the morning after the wedding that Fiji’s family began to realize what had happened.
Around 6 a.m., George got a call about Sam receiving treatment at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. George had spent the night near the wedding venue and drove over. He immediately began asking about his nephew’s whereabouts. But Fiji wasn’t there.
He said the family began to call hospitals, fire stations and coroner offices. Then George said he saw a news report about a fatal helicopter crash.
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess/EyeAkili
Credit: Akili-Casundria Ramsess/EyeAkili
Mathew, unaware of the situation, was headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to return home to Yonkers, New York. He said family members received a vague text around 9 a.m. about Fiji’s family going through a hard time and asking everyone to send prayers. Mathew described feeling confused.
Around 11 a.m., George said the Dawson sheriff’s office confirmed to them Fiji and the helicopter’s pilot had died.
“We have hope in God that God took him at the right time,” Mathew said. “In the same day, there was joy, maximum joy, ecstasy, and there was also a heartbreaking incident.”
‘I felt safe in his love’
Fiji graduated in 2023 from Middle Georgia State University, where he was also a flight instructor for about a year. Since March 2025, he had been working as a first officer with Endeavor Air, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, a Delta spokesperson confirmed.
It was not long after Fiji landed that job that he became serious about marriage, Sam recounted during the funeral. He wanted work that would allow him to support both of them before making a commitment, even though they knew they loved each other, she said.
“I felt safe in his love. I knew that I could trust him to always have my best interest at heart,” she said.
Credit: Courtesy of Jaison Mathew
Credit: Courtesy of Jaison Mathew
The two had met about a decade ago at New Testament Church in Lawrenceville, according to Fiji’s uncle. They started off just as friends.
Sam said they knew by their 20s they wanted to spend their lives together. She recalled praying that marrying Fiji was “the will of God,” hoping they were truly meant for each other.
During Saturday’s funeral, her brother, Jeswin Sam, recalled how he would playfully tease his parents that Fiji had taken his place in the family. He spoke of Fiji’s deep connection with his sister.
“One of the most beautiful things I witnessed was how much he loved my sister,” he said while holding back tears.
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