Week after wedding helicopter crash, a groom’s family reunites for his funeral
When Dave Fiji was just a boy, all his toys were planes.
He knew nearly every model by name and 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 as they left their Dawson County reception last week. But the young couple’s wedding-night getaway ended in calamity when the helicopter crashed not long after takeoff.
Fiji’s wife survived. He and the helicopter’s pilot died.
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 phone interview.
Just a week ago, Mathew flew into Atlanta for Fiji’s wedding. He and other relatives and loved ones are now back in town for Fiji’s funeral at a church near where Fiji grew up. The service will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Praise Community Church in Lawrenceville. It will also be livestreamed.
Fiji, 25, died after the helicopter departed the wedding venue late May 29 and, en route to the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. It struck tall trees and crashed in a heavily wooded area, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency investigating the collision. The helicopter’s pilot, Nikhil Nargundkar, was also killed. Fiji’s family said his wife, Jesni Sam, has been released from the hospital and is recovering.
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 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.”
George said Fiji met his wife about a decade ago at New Testament Church in Lawrenceville. The two started off just as friends and later began to explore a relationship. A few years ago, George said the couple decided they wanted to get married.
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 in a wooded area 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.
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.
George said the helicopter was supposed to land at the small DeKalb County airport, roughly 40 miles south by air of the wedding venue. The newlyweds planned to spend the night at a downtown Atlanta hotel, he said.
It wasn’t until the following morning that the family began to realize what had happened.
Around 6 a.m., George got a call about Fiji’s wife 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.
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 still couldn’t believe it. That’s the honest truth,” George said, adding that “The family, everyone, is trying to put the pieces together and it doesn’t really make any sense to us.”
Fiji had been captivated by airplanes since about age 6. His parents would often take him to aircraft museums and various air shows, George said.
Since March 2025, Fiji had been working as a first officer with Endeavor Air, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, a Delta spokesperson confirmed. He graduated in 2023 from Middle Georgia State University, where he was also a flight instructor for about a year.
Though Mathew has lived in New York since 1995, the distance never dulled the bond between their families. He said Fiji would fly to spend weekends at his home and the family would get together several times a year for various occasions. Every July, Fiji and Mathew’s older son would volunteer at a church convention in Pennsylvania.
Mathew remembered Fiji as responsible and a role model to his sons, who were a few years younger.
“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.”
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