Following debate over the legality of the flight that ended in the death of Argentinian footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson, the Air Charter Association (BACA) has told a BBC Wales investigation that regulators need to play a more active role in investigating illegal, or “gray,” charter flights. BACA, which represents air charter brokers, has reacted with incredulity to a series of multiple such flights leading up to the fateful Piper PA-46-310P Malibu flight from Nantes, France, to Cardiff, Wales. The Malibu crashed north of the Channel Islands, near France, on January 21.
“We did our research into these flights. We've identified which aircraft they were and the routes they flew, and that gave us rise for significant concern," said BACA chief executive Dave Edwards. "There’s enough for us to feel that the authorities need to be looking very closely at this to make sure everyone is keeping the interests of the traveling public at the forefront of their minds.” BACA has passed on to the CAA its research on the flights connected to the transfer deal to sign Sala to Cardiff City’s soccer team.
The flights took place as the £15 million (about $20 million) deal progressed. Willie McKay, who brokered the deal, told BBC Wales that he and his family arranged and paid for the flights. Nevertheless, BACA is calling for the UK CAA’s specialist enforcement team to launch a full investigation, as the UK’s Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) continues to analyze the accident.
According to BBC Wales, the flights were conducted by three different companies or individuals and all the flight plans designated them as “general aviation”—meaning private rather than commercial, with none flying under an air operator certificate (AOC). BACA has continued to highlight the need for an AOC for flights for profit.
BBC Wales noted that an early flight in the sequence was in a Pilatus PC-12 registered to a home care provider. The turboprop was provided by Flexifly Aircraft Hire Limited, which dry leases aircraft to third parties who can then use their own pilots and thus be deemed as private operators. BACA and others have questioned that structure as a way of avoiding the costs of an AOC.
BBC Wales said seven flights in January—when Sala underwent a medical exam and signed for Cardiff City—were conducted by Channel Jets, a charter company and AOC holder based in Guernsey. According to BBC Wales, the two jets used “to fly various parties, including Sala, his agent Meissa N'Diaye, Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock and club player liaison Callum Davies, Willie McKay and his son Mark on seven separate occasions in January did not fall under the AOC at the time,” as the aircraft were not registered on the 2-Reg that Guernsey maintains.
Both aircraft were on the U.S. registry, as was the Piper Malibu that crashed. The BBC said it had discovered the flights were similarly listed on flight plans as non-commercial. It added that, eight days after the plane carrying Sala crashed, “One of these planes was de-registered in the U.S. and re-registered as a Guernsey-based airplane. It was then placed on the company’s AOC.”
The last completed flight with Sala on board was on January 19 when David Ibbotson flew Malibu N264DB to Nantes, where Sala wanted to say goodbye to his teammates and finalize arrangements for moving to Cardiff. The aircraft then left Nantes on January 21 with Ibbotson at the controls, departing at 7:15 p.m. It disappeared from radar about an hour later.