Emiliano Sala - Cardiff suing Nantes for £100m (P 49)

[Ja Salford Blue]

Surely things float when a plane crashes in the water? And it wouldn't have been high speed due to it being a single engined plane? No mayday call? Its a very weird set of events, my heart goes out to their families, they must be in a living hell.

It was a tiny plane mate, i'd assume it wouldn't have broken up into thousands of pieces like a commercial jet. add to that the rough sea and waves probably pretty hard to find

 

[Kinkys Left Foot]

I think more cost cutting amateurish than sinister.

Fancy entrusting a £15m footballer to a part time pilot (Gas Engineer) in a small single engine plane, at night in poor weather and over water.

Who ever organised this wants taking to task!

I thought it was reported Cardiff offered to arrange the flights via a commercial airline but the player declined the offer and made his own arrangements with the obvious disastrous results. Nobody left to take to task unfortunately.

 

[supercity88]

I thought it was reported Cardiff offered to arrange the flights via a commercial airline but the player declined the offer and made his own arrangements with the obvious disastrous results. Nobody left to take to task unfortunately.

His agent probably arranged it so there will still be some fallout from this when it comes to light why they chose such an odd means of travel. He had just signed a new deal, surely they could have stretched to at least a full time pilot. I know Nantes isn't the most common of French destinations but surely there was a better option?

Sad his families will not get the closure. I am surprised they stopped looking so soon but I guess the chances of finding anything are incredibly slim when it is a plane that size.

 

[Dubai Blue]

His agent probably arranged it so there will still be some fallout from this when it comes to light why they chose such an odd means of travel. He had just signed a new deal, surely they could have stretched to at least a full time pilot.

According to reports in France, the original flight plan did have a full-time pilot's name on it (David Henderson), but this was then changed to David Ibbotson.

Bizarrely, it was Henderson's passport that was scanned as Sala and Ibbotson passed through immigration at the airport. All very strange if true.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Absolutely tragic. Once that plane failed to take off the first time I would have cancelled it and been straight onto a commercial flight. To still board it after four failed attempts was madness, if ever someone was trying to give you a warning to duck out that was it.

Personally I would have taken one look at it and turned around.

 

[Gray]

According to reports in France, the original flight plan did have a full-time pilot's name on it (David Henderson), but this was then changed to David Ibbotson.

Bizarrely, it was Henderson's passport that was scanned as Sala and Ibbotson passed through immigration at the airport. All very strange if true.

That is very interesting, perhaps the Aircraft Enthusiasts can shed some more light on this:-

• How did the aircraft get to France, was Henderson flying it with Ibbotson as a passenger?
• Was Ibbotson using Henderson's passport either with or without his permission?
• Has Henderson said anything yet, and where is he?

Back in December 1944 the plane carrying Glen Miller had a similar fate and no trace has ever been found, I think that was a shorter crossing of the Channel.

 

[Dubai Blue]

That is very interesting, perhaps the Aircraft Enthusiasts can shed some more light on this:-

• How did the aircraft get to France, was Henderson flying it with Ibbotson as a passenger?
• Has Henderson said anything yet, and where is he?

Ibbotson flew the plane to France, which makes it even stranger. French media originally named Henderson as the pilot who had died, as his name had been on the flight plan. He posted on Facebook that he was alive and well and hadn't flown to Nantes in over a year. He has since deleted his account.

Ibbotson didn't have a commercial licence so maybe that has something to do with Henderson's name being on the original flight plan. Or perhaps it was just an honest mistake, as both pilots are called David and regularly flew that plane.

It's also now being reported that the flight was meant to depart in the morning but was delayed by 10 hours for an as yet unkown reason, which is how they ended up flying in the dark.

 

[jimharri]

If that's confirmed, fair play to Kante.

 

[HelloCity]

Sad.

 

[MCFC1993]

They've found the plane on the sea bed of the channel.

No mention of any bodies yet.