PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Cardiff City Footballer Feared Missing after aircraft disappeared near Channel Island
Old 23rd Apr 2019, 20:46
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Mike Flynn
 
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BBC Wales running this update.

Cardiff City will insist that agents and intermediaries book only commercial flights when handling player transfers after the death of Emiliano Sala.

Sala, 28, died when the plane carrying him from Nantes to Cardiff crashed late on 21 January, and the legality of the flight has been questioned.

The club said it would be calling on football's governing bodies and other clubs to follow suit.

The aviation trade body believes illegal flights are common in the UK.

Air accident investigators are still looking into why the Piper Malibu plane carrying Sala to Cardiff for his first training session crashed into the English Channel.

The light aircraft was piloted by David Ibbotson, from Crowle, North Lincolnshire, whose body has not been found.

The legality of Sala's flight has not yet been established, but a preliminary report from air accident investigators in February said the pilot was not licensed to carry fee-paying passengers and the plane was not registered for commercial flights.

Cardiff City said it "wholeheartedly" backs the Air Charter Association's (BACA) calls "to secure a review of illegal flights".

The organisation argued the crash "must be a watershed moment", and called for better enforcement and heavier punishments for pilots and individuals who undertake illegal flights.

"We have long argued that illegal flights are harming the legal air charter industry and putting lives of the travelling public at risk," said BACA chief executive Dave Edwards.

Cardiff and Penarth MP Stephen Doughty supports the calls, adding: "We need to make sure this is never allowed to happen again."


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48031453
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