CONN: Plane Crash: Pilot reports it was not an accident - FBI probe underway

CARIIS

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Thanx to Bluesneakers for this thread!

The F.B.I. is investigating whether the crash of a small plane in East Hartford, Conn., that killed a passenger on Tuesday was intentional, according to four federal law enforcement officials.

The pilot, who survived the crash, told investigators that it was not an accident.


Officials identified the passenger as Feras M. Freitekh, 28. Public records show he had lived in Orland Hills, Ill.,

. Federal Aviation Administration records show he was issued a private pilot certificate on May 29, 2015, and was certified to fly a single-engine plane.


... crashed around 3:40 p.m. on Main Street as it was on a final approach to Hartford-Brainard Airport in Hartford. ........... plane took off from a flight school at the airport.


The police chief of East Hartford, Scott M. Sansom, said during a news conferencethat the police sought the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation because the plane went down near a Pratt & Whitney factory on Main Street, .................“critical infrastructure.”

... manufacturer of jet engines for commercial, military and general aviation aircraft.



“not appear at this time that any Pratt & Whitney employees or contractors were involved.”



The mayor said the pilot, to Bridgeport Hospital with serious burns.

.. in a minivan near the crash had minor injuries and were taken to a hospital, the police chief said.

National Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive on Wednesday morning, he added.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/1...sh-in-east-hartford-was-intentional.html?_r=0

First thought, I wonder if the pilot was in shock and or the investigators did not understand him correctly- why would you do that and then tell authorities that you did?

Oh goodness the pilot jumped out before crash?

I think media might be confusing that the two people in the van jumped out of the van not the pilot?

Wide debris field -- humm so kinda sounds like we might be talking about something on board.
Pilot and student. Debris for blocks so something started the plane disintegrating?

I wonder how high it was when accident sequence started.

How high was the plane when he jumped?

BUT jumping out of a flying plane I would think might, for lack of a better word, might result in some confusion - maybe he did not know what he was saying.

Getting strange "vibes" like if something went "off " in the plane I guess one might jump -- thats pretty out there tho huh?

Except DB Cooper ha!


Took off out of a flight school

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ycwKOa8x2U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba__rj7FEaM


 
He may have lived in orland hills but he is from jordanian national.
 
Oh, he was a "fair" distance away from main debris - so I suppose to witnesses that could like a "jump" when it might have actually been a fall out of the plane- strange for sure! [video=youtube;JDxAKf26EqM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDxAKf26EqM[/video]
 
Much confusion about pilot jumping cant tell what they were saying they are wording it differently
 
I cannot imagine that pilot being able to open the door to jump out while the plane is moving to jump out. At least in our plane, it's very difficult to open the door sometimes even when taxiing due to the force of the propeller against it. Was the other person a flight instructor? Usually, there are controls on both sides, so I am very interested in what actually happened.
 
I cannot imagine that pilot being able to open the door to jump out while the plane is moving to jump out. At least in our plane, it's very difficult to open the door sometimes even when taxiing due to the force of the propeller against it. Was the other person a flight instructor? Usually, there are controls on both sides, so I am very interested in what actually happened.

Me too - I think it may be eye witness error - his body was away from main debris field but that could be from strutral loading stuff - obviouly the plane started to shred parts before impact which is pretty rare in small aircraft - so then in a way that does take me to something aboard but then I get into why tell - unless the survivor did not know that something had been placed aboard.

If that happned that way to me I sure would be pissed (to say the least)!

It shall be interesting as some of the information gets sorted out !
 
The above news report is still live and we can hear them talking. One man said the pilot did not jump out of the moving plane, he was able to get out of the burning plane as it slowed down. Truly sounds like we may have many speculations right here at first.

it will be interesting to see what the details are.
 
Just realized this happened yesterday afternoon 5:00 or so. Amazing we are just hearing about it this morning.
 
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/10/1...-connecticut-plane-crash-was-intentional.html
This scares me because my 18 year old is in a flight school now in NC. If this is intentional, or caused by the deceased who was here on a flight school visa, I will want to know how those can be better vetted. My son has several in his school here from other countries from the Middle East on such visas. I'm a wife of a commercial pilot too, and normally don't get worried much about aircraft terrorism. I am concerned a little because he's my baby boy, and as if him being away at school flying isn't enough to worry about. Right now, I need more facts.
 
The whole story seems to me to be lacking in facts! Everything I have read so far is totally contradictory.
 
Source: Pilot, Student Argued Before Plane Crash
Dave Altimari, David Owens, Nicholas Rondinone
and Christine Dempsey, Hartford Courant
as of 2:43 pm with links to more info

[...]

Flight students also stay in an apartment on nearby Essex Street, which city records indicate is owned by Prevalla. A neighbor at 32 Essex St. said the owner of unit E frequently rents to trainees at Brainard Airport, typically young men who stay for months at a time. The unit has so much turnover, she said, that an "unoccupied" label remains marked on the front door for that unit.

Two men had recently been living there, she said, though she didn't have their names. The head of the condominium association was not immediately available for comment.

The men live on the top floor of the Essex Street building. No one answered the door at the unit Wednesday morning.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned Wednesday that the general public should not jump to conclusions about the reasons for the plane crash.

[... brave witness accounts]

"I hear planes every day," he said. "I heard a plane, then I didn't hear anything. I looked up and the plane was just tipping over. It tipped to the left and dropped straight down. There was a loud bang, smoke and flame. It tipped to the left and just dropped like a rock."

[...]

black smoke was billowing from a plane, not a car. A woman who had been in a van that stopped right next to the wrecked plane rushed away from the scene with two children.

"She was just hysterical,"

[...]

"I saw the plane hit the power lines, go into a power pole and then hit just before a minivan and burst into flames," said Crandall, who works in a building next to the crash. "I thought the power lines were going to come down, so I gunned it."

[...]


~


F.B.I. Investigating if Fatal Plane Crash in East Hartford Was Intentional
By ADAM GOLDMAN and CHRISTOPHER MELE, NEW YORK TIMES

OCT. 11, 2016


...Officials identified the passenger as Feras M. Freitekh, 28. Public records show he had lived in Orland Hills, Ill., about 35 miles southwest of Chicago. Federal Aviation Administration records show he was issued a private pilot certificate on May 29, 2015, and was certified to fly a single-engine plane....


NTSB: Investigation Indicates East Hartford Plane Crash Was Intentional
The FBI has taken over the investigation.
NBC CT
3 hrs ago


Screenshot 2016-10-12 at 3.46.17 PM.png

(None of the information re the two involved with the crash seems one hundred percent confirmed, just yet, but... widely reported)



NBC News’ Pete Williams reports, citing a senior law enforcement officials.
Arian Prevalla, the owner of American Flight Academy in Hartford -- formerly known as Connecticut Flight Academy -- survived the crash and was able to get out of the wreckage on his own. He is now at the Bridgeport Burn Unit, NBC Connecticut has learned.




Survivor Says East Hartford Plane Crash 'Was Not an Accident': NY Times [VIDEO]
The New York Times said it was told by investigators the plane crash may have been deliberate; the FBI has taken over the investigation.
By Tim Jensen, Patch Staff

October 12, 2016 2:26 pm ET



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lobVmxDiIE

Hartford Police presence at home linked to East Hartford plane crash
Noelle Gardner WTNH News8
summary paraphrase

Spoke with owner of Ritz something Apts.

Swat raided last night, usually 4 men there, flight training outfits always in uniform, blue pilot uniforms, never seen them in dressed in "regular clothing." Lived there for several months, according to neighbors, haven't been seen for several days.



(Anyone have still know where to find the initial video with the soda truck going by, I think one could see a figure hovering around the burning plane, if you do find it?)
 
Am thinking the 28 yr old jordanian was the pilot, the instructor was the passengers seat giving instructions. Jmo
 
It was asked by.reporter if it was true that they were arguing before the crash, he could not confirm that.
 
It was asked by.reporter if it was true that they were arguing before the crash, he could not confirm that.

It sounds like the mark was missed by dint of the poles and good luck, not to mention the mother and daughter in the van, but who knows yet? Can the pilot be trusted and more than that, the other students who have been reported in MSM not to have been seen again, or whatever else, seems real early in the investigation. For example, the river was so near and would have been a good place to try to ditch, if the non suicidal one had been able to gain control, but to gain control just enough to hit the poles and not the building doesn't seem as credible, to me, just yet. The engine was heard by a witness to have gone off, so who turned it off at that point and did the pilot have enough control at that point to hit the poles instead of the building?
 
It sounds like the mark was missed by dint of the poles and good luck, not to mention the mother and daughter in the van, but who knows yet? Can the pilot be trusted and more than that, the other students who have been reported in MSM not to have been seen again, or whatever else, seems real early in the investigation. For example, the river was so near and would have been a good place to try to ditch, if the non suicidal one had been able to gain control, but to gain control just enough to hit the poles and not the building doesn't seem as credible, to me, just yet. The engine was heard by a witness to have gone off, so who turned it off at that point and did the pilot have enough control at that point to hit the poles instead of the building?

I think you may be right.

Thank you.
 
Im not yet convinced this was not an attempted terrorism that got foiled by the one who was fighting the other.

Whatever it was I think the non-violent one did a great job preventing more damage and maybe even more deaths from happening.

These flight schools need to do a much better job of vetting who signs up for training. Just because they make money from people wanting to learn to fly doesnt mean they should accept the student.

Lots of questions still for me and I dont buy suicide at all. That is BS. Murder maybe but not suicide IMO
 
Im not yet convinced this was not an attempted terrorism that got foiled by the one who was fighting the other.

Whatever it was I think the non-violent one did a great job preventing more damage and maybe even more deaths from happening.

These flight schools need to do a much better job of vetting who signs up for training. Just because they make money from people wanting to learn to fly doesnt mean they should accept the student.

Lots of questions still for me and I dont buy suicide at all. That is BS. Murder maybe but not suicide IMO

BBM I agree. Why kill your flight instructor in order to commit suicide?
 
Another source said the student pilot started flying the plane erratically and the instructor fought to gain control before the crash. The source said the student was distraught and feeling stressed over his poor performance at the flight academy.

[...]

An initial search of an apartment where Freitekh was staying turned up no evidence of terrorism, a source said. But the FBI continued to search the apartment Wednesday and authorities were planning to inspect his electronic devices. Freitekh, 28, was pronounced dead at the scene.

[...]

Freitekh's Facebook page is littered with photos showing his love of flying, including his profile picture that shows Freitekh kissing the nose of a plane. He also posted several pictures of the insides of cockpits and images with inspirational quotes related to flying, including "Born To Be A Pilot" and "Your wings already exist all you have to do is fly."

[...]

John DeCarlo, a veteran Connecticut flight instructor who said he has no knowledge of what happened in the East Hartford crash, said that generally in a twin-engine Piper Seneca, the instructor and student sit side by side — the instructor on the right — and each has a yoke and rudder pedals. During a mechanical malfunction or any kind of trouble in the air, the instructor will say, "My airplane," and the student is supposed to relinquish control immediately, DeCarlo said.

<snipped>
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-east-hartford-plane-crash-1013-20161012-story.html

Feritekh's FB page: https://www.facebook.com/dupont.freatekh

Maybe flight school applicants need to be administered and pass a psych exam before they are accepted?
 

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