Emiliano Sala: Pilot asked to not fly plane by its owner

Emiliano Sala had just signed with Cardiff City

The pilot of a plane that crashed into the English Channel, killing footballer Emiliano Sala, was ordered not to fly the aircraft, a court has heard.

Fay Keely said she asked that David Ibbotson not fly her plane after being told of previous infringements.

David Henderson, 67, was the plane's operator and was responsible for choosing appropriate pilots.

Mr Henderson is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court accused of endangering the safety of an aircraft.

Sala, 28, was involved in a multimillion-pound transfer from French club Nantes to Cardiff City FC, when the plane crashed into the sea in January 2019, killing the striker and pilot Mr Ibbotson, 59.

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Mr Henderson denies the charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft.

He has previously admitted a charge of attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorisation.

David Henderson was the aircraft's operator since its purchase in 2015

Ms Keely said she had bought the Piper Malibu aircraft in 2015 through her family's trust, Cool Flourish Ltd, of which she is secretary and director.

She said that she had told Mr Henderson in 2018 that Mr Ibbotson should not fly the aircraft again after she was notified by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of two infringements that had happened while he was in the air.

She later found out that Henderson had hired Mr Ibbotson again, this time to pilot a flight carrying her sister a month later, in August 2018.

Sala's body was recovered, but Mr Ibbotson, 59, from Crowley, Lincolnshire, has never been found

She said: "Later on in the year, in August, he tried to contact me while I was on holiday. He was due to fly my sister on a trip and was going to be piloting himself.

"I found out after the event that he was unavailable and had asked David Ibbotson to fly instead of him."

"He allowed that to happen without my permission," she added.

Asked by defence counsel Stephen Spence QC if she had warned Henderson not to hire Mr Ibbotson again, she said: "No. As far as I was concerned I had made my feelings clear that he shouldn't be flying the aircraft."

The Piper Malibu aircraft was bought under advice from Mr Henderson, Ms Keely told the court

In an text message exchange from August 2018, that was read to the jury, Mr Henderson had a conversation with someone who had flown with Mr Ibbotson.

It said: "The Ibbotson experience was interesting! He was all over the place. Had to help him out coming into White Waltham [airfield]."

Mr Henderson replied: "His handling OK? Takes a lot to try and knock these new guys into shape."

"He's just not very quick and not thinking ahead," was the reply.

In another text message, found on Mr Henderson's phone from July 2018, Mr Ibbotson explained he had "messed up a couple of times" during a flight.

Jurors also heard that, hours after the night-time crash, Mr Henderson had messaged aircraft engineer David Smith telling him to "keep very quiet", adding "need to be very careful. Opens up a whole can of worms".

The Piper Malibu N264DB disappeared from radar near the Channel Islands on 21 January

The court has already heard that Mr Ibbotson did not hold a commercial pilot's licence, was not allowed to fly at night, and that his rating to fly the Piper Malibu had expired.

Despite this, when Mr Henderson was unavailable to fly the plane carrying Sala between Nantes and Cardiff in January because he was away with his wife in Paris, he hired Mr Ibbotson again.

Mr Smith, an employee of aircraft maintenance company Eastern Air Executive, said he had become aware of some issues with the aircraft on January 21 before it was due to fly back from France to the UK and insisted it was checked by a French engineer.

The trial is expected to last until the end of next week.