A jury has concluded that footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson were overcome by carbon monoxide from a faulty exhaust before their plane crashed into the English Channel in January 2019. The inquest at Bournemouth Town Hall found that Sala, 28, died instantly from head and trunk injuries but was likely deeply unconscious due to carbon monoxide poisoning at the time of the accident.
The single-engine Piper Malibu aircraft disappeared from radar at around 8.16pm on January 21, 2019, while flying from Nantes to Cardiff. Sala had just completed a £15 million transfer from Nantes to Cardiff City. His body was recovered from the wreckage on the seabed on February 6, 2019, while Ibbotson's remains have never been found.
The jury determined that the flight was operated as a commercial flight without the required authorisation, certifications, or permissions. The aircraft's faulty exhaust system leaked carbon monoxide, poisoning both occupants. The pilot, David Ibbotson, held only a private pilot's licence but had been flying the aircraft commercially for David Henderson, who managed the plane.
The inquest heard that Ibbotson had reported hearing a 'bang' or 'boom' during an earlier flight on January 19, 2019, but only the brakes were inspected, not the exhaust system. The aircraft had been hired out on 34 occasions between October 2015 and January 2019, with Ibbotson flying it commercially from June 2018 despite earlier airspace infringements that led the aircraft's owner to request he not be used again.
