2019 English Channel Piper PA-46 crash
Piper PA-46 Malibu · Loss of control, mid-air breakup, crashed into the sea
From Nantes Atlantique Airport (NTE) to Cardiff International Airport (CWL)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's date. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN19WA057
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 2
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Piper PA-46 Malibu
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-46
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N264DB
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- 2
- Route
- From Nantes Atlantique Airport (NTE)To Cardiff International Airport (CWL)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Non-Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · cruise
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Physical
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 21 January 2019, a Piper PA-46 Malibu light aircraft transporting Argentine football player Emiliano Sala crashed in the English Channel off Alderney in the Channel Islands. It had been travelling from Nantes, France, to Cardiff, Wales, where Sala was due to begin his career with Cardiff City.
Radar contact was lost when the aircraft was 13 nmi north of Guernsey. After the search for survivors was abandoned on 24 January, a private search for wreckage was launched. Sala's body was recovered, but no trace of the pilot David Ibbotson was found.
The flight had taken place in cloudy conditions at night, and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) determined that Ibbotson lost control of the aircraft while manoeuvring to avoid cloud at an excessive airspeed, causing an in-flight breakup. Substantial amounts of carbon monoxide had leaked into the cabin, likely rendering Sala unconscious and impairing Ibbotson's judgement. Ibbotson's rating for flying the aircraft had expired in November 2018 which invalidated his licence, he was not qualified to fly at night, and he lacked recent practice flying in instrument meteorological conditions.
David Henderson organised the flight and was originally scheduled to be the pilot. He was found to have operated a commercial flight without holding the required licence or following regulations requiring higher operational standards that may have prevented the accident. He was charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft, was found guilty on 28 October 2021 after a trial at Cardiff Crown Court, and was jailed for 18 months.
Disappearance
The aircraft departed from Nantes Atlantique Airport at 19:15 GMT (20:15 CET) bound for Cardiff Airport. Sala had been signed two days previously by Cardiff City Football Club from FC Nantes. The pilot was identified by Guernsey Police as David Ibbotson. Shortly before contact with air traffic control in Jersey was lost, a request was made by the pilot to descend from 5000 to 2500 ft, in order to maintain visual meteorological conditions (VMC). Radar contact was lost when the aircraft was at an altitude of 2300 ft.
At 20:23 GMT, Guernsey Coastguard received an alert from Jersey air traffic control saying that a plane had gone off the radar around 15 mi north of Guernsey. The plane was then around 13 km northwest of Alderney, Channel Islands, near Casquets lighthouse.
The flight was arranged by football agent Willie McKay, who said that he was not involved in selecting the plane or the pilot. David Henderson had originally intended to fly the plane himself, but the flight was given to David Ibbotson. The flight plan showed that the plane was scheduled to take off at 09:00 GMT (10:00 CET) on 21 January, but was delayed until the evening.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The crash site lies in international waters. Under Annex 13 to the Convention on Civil Aviation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had responsibility for investigating the accident because the aircraft was registered in the United States. The NTSB, in agreement with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) delegated responsibility for the investigation to the AAIB because the aircraft was based in the UK. On 23 January 2019, the AAIB opened an investigation into the accident. Assistance was given by France's Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses, the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, Argentina's Junta de Investigación de Accidentes de Aviación Civil and the NTSB.
Part of the investigation covered the operational aspects related to the accident including licensing and flight plans. David Ibbotson had undergone training to become a commercial pilot between 2012 and 2014, but had dropped out before it was completed; his private pilot licence did not permit him to carry passengers for profit. Ibbotson's type rating for the Piper Malibu had expired months prior to the crash. While at Nantes Atlantique Airport, Ibbotson had posted on Facebook that he was "a bit rusty" with the instrument landing system on the Piper Malibu.
Post mortem tests on Sala's body showed exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) with a carboxyhemoglobin level of 58%, which could have led to symptoms including seizure, unconsciousness or a heart attack. The AAIB considered it likely that the pilot would also have been exposed to CO. The AAIB said that it had no plans to raise the wreckage of the plane from the seabed, saying "In this case, we consider that it will not add significantly to the investigation and we will identify the correct safety issues through other means."
The accident investigation prompted the CAA to publish a leaflet, Legal to Fly, to advise travellers how to identify and avoid unlicenced air charters.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2019 English Channel Piper PA-46 crash” (revision 1346330080, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
On January 21, 2013, about 2012 UTC, a Piper PA-46-301P, N264DB, operated by a private individual, disappeared from radar 15 nm north of Guernsey, Channel Island, United Kingdom. The airplane is believed to have crashed in English Channel and is presumed destroyed, and the two persons on board are believed to be fatalities. Night, visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident for the personal flight. The flight departed Nantes Atlantique Airport (LFRS), France, and was en route to Cardiff Airport (EGFF), Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.A search of the area on January 22, 2019, revealed airplane debris floating on the surface of the English Channel about 15 miles east of where radar contact was lost with the airplane.
This investigation is under the jurisdiction and control of the British government. Any further information may be obtained from:
Air Accidents Investigations Branch Farnborough House Berkshire Copse Road Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 2HH, United Kingdom Telephone: +44 1252 510300 Facsimile: +44 (0) 1252 376999 E-mail: investigations@aaib.gov.uk
This report is for informational purposes only and contains only information released by, or obtained from, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch of England.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2019 English Channel Piper PA-46 crash
- Revision
- 1346330080 · 2026-03-31 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q60846211
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record CEN19WA057
- Event ID
- 20190122X60433
- Case number
- CEN19WA057
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2019 English Channel Piper PA-46 crash" (page 59737023, revision 1346330080); merged with NTSB case CEN19WA057 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record CEN19WA057
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record CEN19WA057
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): The flight carrying Sala was a commercial passenger flight arranged by the organiser: an (illegal) on-demand charter. The article: "He was found to have operated a commercial flight without holding the required licence"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2019 English Channel Piper PA-46 crash" and NTSB case CEN19WA057, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.