Pilot of Emiliano Sala was overcome by carbon monoxide before crash

Pilot flying footballer Emiliano Sala was quickly overcome by toxic levels of carbon monoxide just minutes before plane crashed into English Channel, inquest hears

• Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala died aged 28 in a plane crash in 2019 
• The cabin was filled with lethal levels of carbon monoxide due to a faulty exhaust
• It likely overcame pilot David Ibbotson, 59, who then lost control of the plane 
• The plane crashed into the sea near Guernsey during flight from France to Wales 

The pilot flying footballer Emiliano Sala was probably quickly overcome by toxic levels of carbon monoxide just minutes before his plane crashed into the English Channel, killing the duo, an inquest heard.

David Ibbotson, 59, was hired to fly the 28-year-old striker to and from France after he signed for Premier League club Cardiff City in a £15million transfer from Ligue 1 side Nantes.

He flew the Argentine from Wales to Nantes on January 19, 2019, with the return flight scheduled for two days later.

Contact was lost with the Piper Malibu plane shortly after 8pm on January 21, with the aircraft later found on the seabed near Guernsey, Dorset Coroner’s Court was told.

Sala’s body was recovered from the wreckage of the single engine plane but Mr Ibbotson’s remains have never been found.

Dave Ibbotson (pictured), who died at the age of 59, was the pilot of the light aircraft. Mr Ibbotson held a private pilot’s licence that did not allow him to fly passengers commercially or at night, the court heard

Emiliano Sala (pictured) died alongside pilot David Ibbotson, 59, when the Piper Malibu aircraft crashed into the English Channel

Tests on samples of Sala’s blood showed a carbon monoxide blood saturation level of 58 per cent, which a pathologist described as ‘severe poisoning’.

Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) experts believe the most likely cause for the level of carbon monoxide inside the cabin was the plane’s faulty exhaust system.

Principal investigator Geraint Herbert said the level of carbon monoxide inside Mr Ibbotson and how it affected him is unknown.

‘We know the pilot was talking on the radio four minutes before the crash but we also know that, in between one and three minutes, death can occur from carbon monoxide,’ he told the inquest.

‘We said the pilot was probably affected by carbon monoxide poisoning.

‘We believe what happened in the flight happened quite late in the flight and happened quite quickly and it happened shortly after the last radio contact.’

Mr Herbert continued: ‘We think this accident happened because there was a rapid release of carbon monoxide into the cabin and the pilot, as a result, lost control of the aircraft.

The rear left side of the fuselage, including part of the aircraft registration, in the wreckage of the plane on the seabed in the Channel

The Piper Malibu aircraft, N264DB, on the ground at Nantes Airport, France, prior to the flight that crashed into the Channel on January 21, 2019

‘We feel he probably wasn’t completely unconscious for the whole of that. There was significant carbon monoxide to make him lose control but not so much that it made him unconscious.

‘We know at the end he pulled back, which led to the breakup.’

The inquest, at Bournemouth Town Hall, has been told the most likely source of the carbon monoxide was from a damaged heater muff in the exhaust system.

Mr Herbert said he was unable to say how the damage happened, but there was a loud bang on the outward flight from Cardiff that was not investigated by an engineer before the return trip.

A faulty exhaust was the most likely cause of the high levels of carbon monoxide found in the cabin of the plane which crashed while taking Emiliano Sala to Wales

 Emiliano Sala had just signed for Cardiff City FC from FC Nantes for a reported £15million but never got to train with the team

Mr Ibbotson held a private pilot’s licence that did not allow him to fly passengers commercially or at night, the court heard.

He had been asked to pilot the plane by businessman David Henderson, 67, who managed the aircraft on behalf of its owner.

The flight had been arranged by football agent Willie McKay, a longtime client of Mr Henderson who was involved in Sala’s move to Cardiff.

The inquest continues.

Source: Read Full Article