The businessman who illegally organised the doomed flight that killed footballer Emiliano Sala denies prohibiting the pilot from making distress calls.
The Argentinian striker died alongside pilot David Ibbotson, 59, when their Piper Malibu aircraft crashed into the English Channel close to Alderney on January 21, 2019.
The 28-year-old had been flying to Wales from France to join Premier League club Cardiff City in a £15 million transfer from Ligue 1 side Nantes.
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On Wednesday, an inquest at Bournemouth Coroner’s Court heard evidence from David Henderson, a pilot and businessman who managed the Piper Malibu, and who arranged for Mr Ibbotson to fly it.
The jury learned that Mr Henderson was convicted of endangering the safety of an aircraft after trial for using Mr Ibbotson’s services when he knew he did not have the relevant licences.
Mr Henderson was jailed for 18 months in October last year for the offence, and a further offence of attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorisation, which he admitted.
He did not have an air operator’s certificate (AOC) that would have allowed him to fly paying passengers.
Mr Ibbotson did not have the training to fly at night.
It is the first time in the inquest into Mr Sala’s death that the jury has been told about the earlier criminal proceedings.
Giving evidence via video link, Mr Henderson denied asking Mr Ibbotson not to issue “pan pan calls” in order to avoid his business dealings coming to the attention of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
A pan pan call is used to alert air traffic control to urgent but non-life threatening situations.
On the outbound flight to Nantes on January 19, Mr Ibbotson did not tell authorities about a loud bang from the aircraft.
Matthew Reeve, for Mr Sala’s family, asked Mr Henderson about a message to the pilot in July 2018 telling him to try to avoid incidents that would result in a mandatory report being made to the CAA.
Mr Reeve asked if this instruction also extended to avoiding making pan pan calls.
“I would not be giving any guidance on whether to put out a pan pan call or a mayday,” Mr Henderson said.
He added that if the aircraft continued to fly normally, there would be no reason to make such a call.
Mr Henderson said he only wanted Mr Ibbotson to fly “accurately and carefully” and denied “instructing” him not to put out distress signals.
“You didn’t want anyone looking at how you were running these flights because you knew they were illegal,” Mr Reeve said.
The court heard that at one point Mr Henderson considered sending an engineer over to Nantes to check the plane, but ultimately decided not to.
“At no point did anyone think that plane was not airworthy,” he said.
He said it would have been up to Mr Ibbotson to ground the plane if he thought it was not safe to fly, and claimed he had forgotten he could not fly at night.
In one message to Mr Ibbotson he asks him if he can “blag” knowledge of the rules governing flights landing at Cardiff Airport.
Both Mr Henderson and football agent Willie McKay have been accused of knowingly organising unlicensed “grey” flights to transport footballers and other high-net worth individuals around Europe - claims which both men denied.
As well as not having an AOC, the court heard Mr Henderson kept no records or invoices for his business, or the qualifications of the pilots who flew for him.
Cathryn McGahey QC, for Cardiff City FC, said that by accepting payment, “every time Mr Ibbotson flew for you he was doing so illegally”.
The inquest has heard Mr Sala was overcome by toxic levels of carbon monoxide poisoning prior to dying from severe head and chest injuries consistent with a plane crash.
On Wednesday, the jury was told that Mr Ibbotson had been barred from flying the Piper Malibu by its owner after receiving two notices of airspace infringements from the CAA.
He had continued to fly the plane without her knowledge.
The inquest is due to last around a month.
