Crime & Safety
Student Pilot with Orland Hills Address No Longer Wanted to Fly Plane, Instructor Fought for Control
Initial investigation points to suicide as the cause of a small plane crash. No signs of terrorism found in student pilot's dwelling.
Hartford, CT — A student pilot using an Orland Hills address gave up control in mid-flight of his small twin-engine airplane, then fought with his instructor as the plane ultimately plunged to the ground in Hartford, investigators have learned.
Feras M. Freitekh, 28, died in the crash Tuesday. Freitekh was a student pilot aboard the Piper PA-34 Seneca that plummeted to the ground in Connecticut — a crash the pilot suggests was not an accident. A source later said Freitekh argued with his instructor, stating he didn't want to fly the plane anymore. The flight instructor was injured but survived the crash.
Freitekh "started flying the plane erratically," reports the Hartford Courant, and the instructor struggled to regain control in the moments before the plane fell from the sky. Freitekh had been stressed over his "poor performance" at the flight academy, according to the report.
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The incident appears to be a suicide rather than an act of terrorism, a source told the Associated Press, and an initial search of the Illinois man's apartment near the academy showed no evidence of terrorism. Investigators remained on-scene Wednesday, and planned to search his electronic devices, as well.
Freitekh had used an address in Orland Hills, Illinois, since April of 2013. He was a Jordanian national who obtained a visa to come to the U.S. in 2012 to attend flight school. He was issued a private pilot certificate in May 2015. The man who lives at the address Freitekh used said he never resided there, ABC-7 reports. His neighbors also do not remember him.
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The plane was reportedly en route to landing at nearby Brainard Airport in Hartford at the time of the crash. The proximity of the crash to Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, a major aerospace manufacturer for both military and civil aircraft, prompted East Hartford Police Chief Scott Sansom to call in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Read more from the Hartford Courant.
Photo captured from YouTube video
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