Emiliano Sala Plane Crash: New Photographs Of Wreckage Released

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is trying to establish what happened to the aircraft.

New photos of the plane wreckage which killed Cardiff City footballer Emiliano Sala have been published as part of an initial report into the tragedy.

The document, compiled by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), also found that “further work” is needed to probe the “airworthiness, aircraft permissions and flight crew licencing” around the flight which plunged into the English Channel last month.

Geraint Herbert, principal inspector of Air Accidents said: “So far, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch has been gathering evidence. We have been gathering evidence from the wreckage, from video of the wreckage.

“We have been looking at radar evidence. We’ve been looking at weather reports we have from the area and we’ve been interviewing witnesses.

“The Air Accidents Investigation Branch will now analyse the evidence we have to try and build a picture of what happened between the last radar contact we have with the aircraft and when it came to rest on the seabed, to try and determine why the accident happened.”

Some operational aspects are yet to be determined, such as the validity of the pilot’s licence and ratings, Herbert added.

The full report will help to establish what happened between the aircraft being lost from radar and its remains being discovered underwater.

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Image of the aircraft from the interim report.
Air, Rail and Marine Accident Investigation Branches

The AAIB will analyse radar information and video to establish the last few minutes of the flight and assess “the possible implications of the weather conditions in the area at the time of the accident”.

The report also found that the pilot, David Ibbotson, used a flight planning and navigation software application installed on his portable tablet computer “to create a route between Nantes and Cardiff and file the VFR flight plan”.

However, the pilot’s tablet computer was not found within the wreckage.

Sala had signed for Cardiff for a club record of £15m and was flying to his new team from former side Nantes in France, when the aircraft went missing over the on January 21.

Sala’s body was later recovered, during a privately funded search, but Ibbotson is still missing and his family have since set up a fundraiser for donations to help restart a search for him.

A GoFundMe page has so far raised more than £200,000. A message on the site reads: “Please help bring David Ibbotson home and help give him the sendoff he deserves.

“As a family we are relying on the kindness of the good-hearted people to help us raise the much needed funds to help us find our beloved dad, husband and son.”

The aircraft remains underwater off the coast of Guernsey.