By Nicole Dienst ’18

A small plane being flown by a student pilot from a local flight school crashed Tuesday, October 11th, in downtown East Hartford. In the crash, student pilot Feras Freitekh was killed and the flight instructor suffered severe injuries.

The FBI was called in to help the Hartford PD investigate as speculation arose around the reason why the plane crashed. As the flight instructor was being cared for by emergency responders, he mumbled a statement that the plane crash was not an accident. Investigators ruled the plane crash an attempted suicide. It has been determined that Feras Freitekh had a love for flying and attempted to end his life due to his poor performance in flight school.

This is not the first time a plane has crashed near Hartford, Connecticut. In 1995, a plane crashed in East Granby, Connecticut due to trouble with flight controls and a lack of altitude.

Staples students were still shocked to hear about the local crash, ““It’s always sad to hear that there is a plane crash, especially so close to us.” Dobson Cooper ’18 whose stepfather is a pilot said. Despite the fact the crash was ruled a suicide, the thought of flying again is a real fear for Staples students, “After hearing about the plane crash, it makes me think twice about flying,” Sam Pacilio ’19 said.

The town of Hartford was very shaken up as they know the flight school students to be friendly and kind. Since the plane was crashed on account of a student pilot, the ability of pilots has recently become questioned; “It’s a fear of pilots not being as good as everyone thinks,” Sam Schwartz ’17 said. Flying fear and anxiety has become quite prevalent ever since September 11th, 2001.