While I agree with the above that AOCs provide a level of safety, nothing is being done about WINGLY flights either. In fact someone is offering WINGLY flights from Cardiff to Jersey and Alderney in a PA28 during the winter months, it is unlikely that the WINGLY pax understand that these pilots are not professionals and that they really should be wearing immersion suits in the event of a engine failure.

Agree, it is just a matter of time before Wingly claims it's first victim.

Interestingly, my insurance policy explicitly forbids Wingly style flights - I wonder how many people are offering Wingly flights in aircraft for which this is the case.

I used to fly piston Malibus, but I've never heard of an unpressurized one.

I wouldn't describe it as entry level. A 172 is entry level.

There have been a number of Malibu accidents.

Stand corrected. The poster above is right on the unpressurized Matrix model.

Newspaper claims this is his last audio message sent from the airplane, complaining about the rough ride.

https://www.ole.com.ar/informacion-g...MKFFqSb_h.html

Well OK - it's the initial, lowest-powered, out-of-production version of the Malibu, if you prefer. :O

One hopes it is no way relevant to this thread, I'm merely correcting a falsehood having worked in the life insurance industry, the quoted statement is completely wrong.

What follows is valid in the UK and throughout Europe

Life insurance policies cover flying activities of all kinds through their special conditions, which appear to the customer (the insured) through extended questioning on said flying activity at the point of application and which will be legally recorded in the statement of particulars. All insurance providers differ in a marginal manner as to how they treat all manner of special conditions.

Generally, life insurance providers will not load for occasional flying activity (ie as an occasional passenger) but if they did for any reason, it would be clearly indicated in the life insurance cover documents.

Regular flying (ie as crew) will usually be covered following an analysis of the activity and with a subsequent premium loading.

Once on cover, and assuming nobody has told any fibs in the application, life insurance policies very, very, very rarely fail to pay out - the industry is massively regulated.

Sorry for the derail

Thanks, but the question was which Malibu could have been used for Sala's round trip from Rhoose to Nantes. If it was the Swansea aircraft, nobody seems to have recorded it passing through CWL.

Incidentally, it's misleading to refer to N264DB as "the Norfolk PA-46".. I don't know where it's actually based, but it's probably not East Anglia, ditto the other 900-odd aircraft registered to SAC at that Bungay HQ address.

1984 PIPER MALIBU 46-8408037 N264DB owned by a lady Nr Mansfield, registered to what looks like a family consultancy business

Sorry sellbydate buts that's a misunderstanding.

American registered aircraft cannot be owned by foreign nationals thus there is a system of "trusteeship" to get round that. All the UK based N reg aircraft are registered to just a handful of such entities such as Southern Aircraft. It also has the side effect of hiding the true owner.

To correct a few points : Guernsey is class D airspace at this altitude, so you need a transponder to enter, they normally do not give exceptions .. Any aircraft whatever its registration nationality that wants to fly in EASA airspace requires a mode S transponder . Mode A/C are no longer to be used,, In the USA you can still use the old A/C transponder but then you cannot enter, let alone be based in European airspace.
Same for ELTs, to fly in a powered aircraft in the EASA airspace you need a 406 ELT. As correctly said they normally activate on impact . but if antennae is damaged on impact or under water it does not work ( i.e AF447 , MH 270, etc.. )
To cross a EU border you need a flight plan , and yes there was an IFR one filed . not night VFR

Sadly this morning on French radio played a recording of Sala from inside the aircraft ( in Spanish) said to be afraid of the poor state of the aircraft .:-(

Wrong - title is to Southern Aircraft Consultancy but actual ownership is an individual in Mansfield

There is a video on the BBC website titled My Life as a ferry pilot and it's show this aircraft mentioned above. It feels very eerie listening to what he says.

Thinking of 1981...
Some aspects of this tragic event bring back memories of the loss of P.68 EC-DHE on 3rd October 1981. The aircraft departed from Cardiff with pilot plus 4 pax on board on a night IFR to Alicante but disappeared off Guernsey and has never been found. Reports suggest there had been loss of an engine but I recall icing was talked about at the time.

DH is the guy shown in the video I mentioned. I can't link it as I haven't reached 10 posts.

"My Life as a Ferry Pilot" BBC News 12 October 2015. In it DH talks of the challenge and of a number of ferry pilots he knew who never made it. He stands alongside N264DB and demonstrates its instruments. Eerie indeed....

Another case of unhelpful media then. They are taking a long time to reveal the identity of the individual while the passenger's name was revealed almost as soon as the PA46 was reported missing.

This seems the story

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazi...-a-ferry-pilot

I think ETOPS is correct. "Ownership" of the aircraft is listed on the title and shows on the FAA website, whether that's one individual or more, a corporate entity or in this case a trust, due I suspect to it being an N reg based in the UK. Whatever arrangement the trust has with the individual who is in possession of the plane is irrelevant to the FAA. Not all N reg in the UK are owned by a trust however, if you are a US citizen you can hold title in your own name without the need for a trust.

Having been intimately involved with the signing of and life insurance exmainations for professional footballers for several years, I would be sadly surprised if all the insurance paperwork had gone through at this stage.

My experience is that this would be sorted once the player arrived for training.

Cardiff however could be much more "efficiently" run, and could possibly have some interim insurance to cover such eventualities.

My heartfelt sympathies to all involved.

So who is leading on the Accident Investigation on this - nothing from the AAIB.

BBC R4 news reporting that it's possible that the footballer and one other person might have climbed into a life-raft.

That's surely based on the Ferry Pilot clip where it's explained that on trans-Atlantic crossings there is a life-raft in the back to buy him up to 8hrs although he adds that he wears a neoprene immersion suit. But they wouldn't have been wearing neoprene on this occasion (would they?) so unless based on rescue services knowledge, the lift-raft possibility would be way off the mark, no?

It's a shame he didn't just book airline.

Most effectively AF/KLM through Amsterdam, as there is no reasonable connection at Paris. 1715 from Nantes arrive Ametsrdam 1900. 2120 from Amsterdam arrive Cardiff 2140. Seems little different to the light aircraft times.

Regarding the statement that the passenger had arranged the aircraft himself, I think we would be a bit surprised if he knew, personally, where to start with this. It will be notable to learn who/what else the owner had used this aircraft for over time.

not under their jurisdiction I believe.

Icing sounds very likely, but what about the possible effect upon instruments if the passenger was not using his phone in "flight safe mode"? Evidently he was busy sending messages indicating that he was uneasy.

One person who hasn't been mentioned yet in all of this is his agent! I would have thought the chances he booked the flight are fairly high.

Is it 100% accurate? Last year I bought off the Jersey Aeroclub fleet, consisting of two fairly old, Mode C-only PA28s. Not only had they been operated daily in that Class D airspace chunk (mostly VFR) but when I ferried them out of Jersey, each time on an IFR flight plan, Mode C was never a problem.

Now, flying -DT through Belgium later was a completely different matter - I had to circumnavigate every bit of controlled airspace while there. I think it still varies by country, as I have recently flown -DT into and out of EPLL whose TMA is Class C.

Clear as mud.

I spent a few years flying VFR around the Channel Islands, the weather can change very quickly and there are some very strong sea currents around Alderney, so even if they got into a life raft they would still be in real trouble. How sad for all involved.