THE flight instructor who was killed in the light aircraft crash in Jalan Dr Nazrin Shah, Sungai Rokam, Medan Gopeng, Ipoh last night had survived a previous aircraft incident.

Fajim Juffa Mustafa Kamal, 52, was reported to have spent several days stuck in a tree when the aircraft he was on suffered engine trouble when conducting training in 2004.

According to his aunt, who did not want to be identified, the incident did not dampen Fajim’s passion for flying.

“He never said he was scared or wanted to quit this field as he had a deep interest for it,” she said when met by reporters at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital forensics department early this morning.

She said Fajim’s father also suffered the same fate and died in an aircraft incident around 1989. 

Checks by Bernama indicated that relatives of the deceased, including his wife and daughters, had gathered at the grounds of the hospital around 1.20am.

The aunt said they decided not to inform them about Fajim’s death until they arrived to avoid any untoward incident on their journey to the hospital.

“I was close to him and he was a cheerful man who often brought his family to visit me,” she said.

Fajim, from Semenyih, Selangor was killed and fellow flight instructor Muhammad Din Fikri Zainal Abidin, 62, from Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur was injured when the light aircraft they were on crashed at around 8 o’clock last night.

Both were reported to have departed from a nearby flight training school before the incident occurred. – Bernama, August 2, 2022.