Emiliano Sala’s flight organizer sentenced to 18 months in prison

The organizer of the flight that resulted in the death of football player Emiliano Sala in 2019 was sentenced this Friday (12) to 18 months in prison for hiring a pilot he knew did not have the necessary qualifications.

On October 28, after a two-week, seven-hour deliberation trial, a popular jury at a court in Cardiff, Wales, found David Henderson, 67, guilty of recklessness and negligence likely to endanger the plane.

Furthermore, he acknowledged his guilt for transporting a passenger without valid authorization.

The small private plane, in which pilot David Ibbotson and the 28-year-old player were traveling, crashed in the English Channel on January 21, 2019. The Nantes forward was on his way to Cardiff, where he had signed a contract worth 17 million euros (about 105 million reais).

The body of the Argentine player, whose disappearance shocked the world of football, was recovered from the interior of the aircraft more than two weeks after the accident, at a depth of 67 meters.

The 59-year-old pilot’s body has not been found.

According to the prosecution’s version during the process, the defendant was supposed to pilot the aircraft, but as he was on vacation in Paris with his wife, he entrusted the mission to David Ibbotson.

Ibbtson did not have a commercial pilot’s license, his qualification for this type of aircraft had expired and he did not have the competence necessary to perform night flights.

Piper Malibu owner Fay Keely indicated in her testimony that she had explicitly asked the defendant in writing not to use the services of David Ibbotson.

David Henderson’s defense, however, rejected any “recklessness”, claiming that his client’s failures were “simply (in) a matter of paperwork” and that they did not jeopardize the flight.

The lawyer also guaranteed that the only difference between a commercial and a private license is the possibility of making the passenger pay, without affecting the pilot’s capacity, which had more than 3,500 hours of flight.

Henderson’s attorney Andrew Shanahan said civil aviation authorities “always accepted” the fact that the flight organization itself was not the cause of the accident, “suggesting” in his report a failure of the aircraft, which was with up-to-date maintenance.

In its final report published in March 2020, the British Air Accident Investigation Office found that the pilot was “probably” intoxicated with carbon monoxide from the engine’s exhaust system.

Their conclusions indicate that the pilot lost control of the aircraft during a maneuver performed at very high speed, “probably” to avoid bad weather.

The plane was flying at 435 km/h at the moment of impact with the water, making it impossible for its occupants to survive.