The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Plane crash probe continues
Pilot’s credentials uncovered; authorites work to identify passengers
DANBURY — Officials have yet to say what prompted a flight instructor to stop Saturday at Danbury Muncipal Airport before a fatal crash off Long Island that killed both the instructor and two passengers.
Authorities have identified 41-year-old Munidat “Raj” Persaud, of Waterbury, as the owner and pilot of the Piper twin turbo prop airplane that crashed into the water about three miles southeast of Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., Saturday afternoon.
The names of two passengers who also died in the crash have yet to be released. New York State Police said Monday they were still working on confirming the passengers identities. Federal investigators have yet to say what caused the crash.
Michael Safranek, the assistant administrator at Danbury Airport, declined to comment on whether Persaud picked up any passengers or fueled up his plane before departing the air strip Saturday for a flight to South Carolina.
Authorities with the U.S. Coast Guard did confirm over the weekend that video footage from the airport is being reviewed in order to help determine the identity of the two passengers.
Persaud had purchased the Piper involved in the crash in June, according to the pilot’s Facebook page.
“Just took delivery of our new Piper Seneca to add to the fleet,” he posted on June 15. “This aircraft is awesome has full de-ice capabilities and they did away with all the analog engine gauges.”
Persaud owned Oxford Flight Training, which he operated out of the Waterbury-Oxford Airport, and had considered expanding the business into Danbury earlier this year. Safranek said Persaud sent the city’s Aviation Commission a letter stating his intentions to provide flight instruction services at the airport.
“He was looking to secure office space at one of the (businesses) at the airport,” Safranek said.
Persaud even developed a web presence for Danbury Flight Training, a company that never materialized, and posted photos of the company’s business card on Facebook.
Persaud is a former airline flight engineer who worked for several airlines, including Pan American World Airways, as a technical representative and
avionics technician, according to the company web site. He was also an experienced bush pilot, having flown thousands of hours in the jungles of South America.
Safranek said he talked to Persaud about the expansion two weeks ago.
“We hadn’t heard anything from him in a while and I wanted to check in,” Safranek said. “Persaud said he wasn’t going to be doing anything in Danbury anymore.”
Persaud owned about a dozen planes, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, including
another Piper that was involved in a fatal plane crash earlier this year.
Samson Kalani Ah Nee, 31, of Manchester, was killed when he crashed near Bald Mountain in Vermont on May 20. Investigators determined that Ah Nee had received his certificate to fly the multi-engine aircraft the day before and had been advised by his instructor not to fly due to weather conditions.
Persaud, according to reports, was a native of Guyana and also offered flight instruction services from that country under the name Oxford Aviation.
Newspaper reports from the Guyana Chronicle in June 2016 showed that authorities were investigating Persaud for flying a Cessna out of the country without permission.
The newspaper stated that Persaud had a “murky history” of operating in the region, a claim the pilot rejected on his Facebook page.
“This was third world propaganda.” he said on the social media web site. “The whole story was BS. This is state controlled newspaper...”