Pilot told friend that plane was 'dodgy' ahead of Emiliano Sala's fatal flight
manchestereveningnews.co.ukThe pilot of the plane involved in a crash that killed footballer Emiliano Sala had described the aircraft as “dodgy” and vowed to wear his lifejacket prior to the fatal flight.
Sala was flying from Nantes in France to Wales to join then Premier League club Cardiff City in a £15 million transfer, which involved football agent Willie McKay, from Ligue 1’s Nantes.
The plane crashed in the English Channel close to Guernsey, killing Sala, 28, and 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson. An inquest in March found the Argentina-born striker died from head and chest injuries but was deeply unconscious, having been poisoned by fumes from the Piper Malibu’s faulty exhaust system, on the evening of January 21, 2019. READ MORE: Rico Burton was facing trial before his death, court hears Newly released audio from the BBC’s Transfer: The Emiliano Sala Story podcast shows Mr Ibbotson appeared to have concerns about the plane following the outward flight from Cardiff to Nantes. “I picked a footballer up from Cardiff.
He’s just been bought from Nantes for, I think it was about, 20 million pounds worth or something,” he said in a voicemail to friend Kevin Jones. “They’ve entrusted me to pick him up in a dodgy (aircraft).
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