Emiliano Sala: Interim report raises questions over validity of pilot’s license, reveals plane shattered into three parts

Emiliano Sala: Interim report raises questions over validity of pilot’s license, reveals plane shattered into three parts
An investigation into the plane crash which killed footballer Emiliano Sala will focus on the validity of the pilot’s licence.The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) named ‘regulatory requirements’ as one of four areas in which further work will be carried out.Air Accidents Investigation Branch7

David Mearns, the ‘Shipwreck Hunter’, led the private search which located the wreckage of the Piper Malibu

The AAIB’s interim report noted the type of licence held by the pilot meant he could only fly passengers in the European Union on a cost sharing basis, rather than for commercial flights.Pilots with his licence ‘must have a bona fide purpose for making the flight’, according to the AAIB.Sala, the Argentine, had become Cardiff City’s record signing in a 15million deal days before the plane carrying him crashed into the English Channel on January 21.getty7

Sala left Nantes for Cardiff in a 15million deal

He was the only passenger on board the Piper Malibu aircraft flying from Nantes to the Welsh capital.His body was recovered on February 6 but pilot David Ibbotson, 59, of Crowle, Lincolnshire, has not been located.7

Mr Ibbotson, who piloted the aircraft, remains missing

Mr Ibbotson’s family hope a fresh search for his body will begin this week after setting up an online fundraising campaign which has reached 250,000. The aircraft remains underwater off the coast of Guernsey after an attempt to recover it was hampered by bad weather.The AAIB report also revealed the aircraft shattered into three pieces, with previously unseen pictures published showing the wreckage of the plane.7

A view of the windscreen and cockpit area

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A view of the cabin and break in fuselage

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A view of the remains of the inner wing

Investigators are yet to determine what caused the crash, but the plane is believed to have fallen thousands of feet in just 20 seconds after making a 180-degree turn. The wreckage was found 30 metres from its final recorded location on radar – at an altitude of 1,600ft – leading to the conclusion it fell almost vertically.The aircraft’s journey over the Channel Islands has also been published, with the report revealing the pilot diverted from his planned course after requesting a descent to the west of Jersey.7The identity of the Piper Malibu’s owner remains undisclosed, with the unnamed individual not applying for ‘permission to operate the aircraft commercially’.

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Liverpool defender Joe Gomez signs new long-term contract
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