The National Transportation Safety Board in a statement said it is transferring the lead for the investigation of Tuesday’s crash of a Piper Seneca in East Hartford, Connecticut, to the FBI. The NTSB said its initial investigation indicated the crash, in which the aircraft clipped power lines and burst into flames on a busy city street, was the result of an intentional act. The pilot/flight instructor, listed as Arian Prevalla, survived the mid-afternoon crash and reportedly told investigators the event was not an accident.
According to a story in Wednesday’s Hartford Courant, Prevalla is answering questions from a burn-unit bed at Bridgeport Hospital. A local law enforcement official said the student, Feras M. Freitekh, who died in the crash, was unhappy about his training progress at the local flight school where the trip began earlier Tuesday.
Freitekh, a resident of Orland Hills, Illinois, a small town southwest of Chicago, held a private pilot certificate and was apparently receiving training for a multi-engine rating at a school on the Hartford-Brainard Airport near the site of the crash.
According to the Courant, a local law-enforcement official said the instructor and the student were arguing just prior to the crash. It was unclear, however, if the argument stemmed from the instructor attempting to wrestle control of the aircraft from Freitekh, or some other reason.
