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Student Pilot Acted Out Of Character For Days Before Crash, Investigators Told

David Owens and Christine Dempsey and Edmund H. Mahony On Oct 14, 2016

Source: McClatchy

Oct. 14--The student pilot who authorities believe intentionally crashed a twin-engine airplane on Main Street Tuesday was acting increasingly erratic in the days before the crash, law enforcement sources said.

Feras M. Freitekh seemed out of sorts and, over the two or three days before the crash, was "confrontational" and "cranky," investigators said Freitekh's acquaintances told them.

The behavior, while out of character, was not so alarming to prompt his acquaintances to notify anyone, investigators said.

Law enforcement officials said Wednesday that Freitekh, 28, was flying the Piper PA-34 Seneca erratically and fought with the flight instructor, Arian Prevalla, 43, just before the crash. Prevalla was badly burned in the crash and was listed in fair condition Thursday at the Bridgeport Hospital burn center.

While authorities said Wednesday that Freitekh was distraught over his performance at the American Flight Academy at Hartford's Brainard Airport, the new information reveals more about the Jordanian national's state of mind in the days before the crash. And the findings further support the theory held by investigators that the crash near the Pratt & Whitney headquarters was intentional.

"This is looking like a suicide," an official said. The investigation is ongoing and authorities have said they have not reached a definitive conclusion on why the plane crashed.

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Friends: Student in crash was upbeat, happy to be flying

By DAVE COLLINS,

Last Updated: Friday, October 14, 2016

HARTFORD, Conn. --

(AP) A few hours before he died in a Connecticut plane crash, Feras Freitekh left a message for a close friend in his native Jordan in which he joked around, asked for help with a game app and said he would talk with him after a final flight test this week.

The friend, Amjad Majdy, said Freitekh was happy to be fulfilling his passion for aviation. He and others who were close to the student pilot say they are puzzled by U.S. officials' assertions that Tuesday's plane crash was intentional, including one official who said it appears to have been a suicide attempt by Freitekh.

"He was laughing and he was normal. Nothing wrong with him," Majdy, who lives in Amman, said via Facebook messaging. "He loved being a pilot. That was his dream."

Freitekh was born in Kuwait and moved to Amman with his family when he was a boy, friends say, and he came to Hartford to attend the American Flight Academy in 2013. Besides flying, they say he loved playing video games including Dota 2 and World of Warcraft both online, multiplayer games involving roleplaying and battling enemies. He also had a girlfriend.

Several friends said he was not known to have problems with depression or anger.

They said Freitekh was supposed to take his last flying exam Friday, and he planned to return to Jordan and look for an airline job.

A friend who lives in Jordan, Ma'en Al-wishah, said he talked with Freitekh a few days before the crash and Freitekh didn't say anything about having problems with his training.

"Planes were everything to him," Al-wishah said. "All he wanted is to get that license. He was always in a good mood. He was a funny guy. I can assure you ... Feras would never hurt anyone."

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They didn't hit a buildings, they landed short

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And the other alternative would be, instructor badly screwed up, needed a scapegoat and is now busy trying to save his neck! but hey, it must have been the student, because he is from the mid east, right?

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The student, Fera [sic, I think it is actually Feras - Airbubba] M. Freitekh, 28, was a Jordanian national of Palestinian descent who came to the United States several years ago to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a pilot, according to his cousin Abdul-Rahman Freitekh.

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