The pilot of a plane in which footballer Emiliano Sala died described the aircraft as “dodgy” and vowed to wear his lifejacket prior to the fatal flight. 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.
The 28-year-old player was flying from Nantes in France to Wales to join then Premier League club Cardiff City when the plane registered at Gamston Aircraft in Retford crashed in the English Channel close to Guernsey, also killing 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson. 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).
