Federal authorities are investigating a Connecticut plane crash that killed one person after the pilot claimed he caused it intentionally.

The plane went down around 3.40 pm on Tuesday as it approached Hartford-Brainard Airport. It took off from a flight school located at that airport, according to the New York Times.

East Hartford police chief Scott M Sansom said that local police called on the FBI to assist with the investigation because the crash occurred close to a Pratt & Whitney manufacturing plant, which officials called “critical infrastructure”.

FBI sources told the Times that the pilot told investigators that the crash was not accidental. Feras M Freitekh, 28, was identified as the sole fatality. He had been certified to fly a single-engine plane since May 2015.