The British prosecution on Tuesday accused the man accused of having organized the flight that transported footballer Emiliano Sala, who died in the plane crash in 2019, of having been motivated by greed in defiance of the security, hiring a pilot he knew was unqualified.
David Henderson, 67, is on trial in Cardiff, Wales for acting in a reckless or negligent manner which could have endangered the plane in which the Argentinian striker from FC Nantes was traveling to join the club from Cardiff City, where he had just been transferred for 17million euros.
"
Mr. Henderson, as operator, organized
" the return flights between Nantes and Cardiff in January 2019, explained to jurors the prosecutor Martin Goudie.
These two flights "
were organized because it was in his financial interest,
" he said, and "
he ignored certain (security) requirements when it suited him and his business interests."
"
According to Mr. Goudie, the accused was initially supposed to fly the aircraft, which crashed in the English Channel on January 21, 2019. But, busy, he had made sure that David Ibbotson, a 59-year-old pilot whose body did not has not been found, take its place.
The prosecutor accused the sixty-year-old of having acted negligently "
by using a pilot
" whom he knew full well that "
was neither qualified nor competent to carry out these flights
".
Indeed, “
Mr. Ibbotson did not have a commercial pilot license, his qualification for (this) type of airplane had expired in November 2018 and he was not competent to fly in the weather conditions that Mr. Henderson knew. that these flights could encounter
”, underlined Martin Goudie.
"
Pandora's box
"
David Henderson had been warned of concerns about Ibbotson's skills, but he brushed them aside, writing to the pilot in a text message that the only "
prerequisite was the willingness to listen and to learn
."
"
We both have the opportunity to make money,
" he also sent the deceased pilot, in a text message read by the prosecutor, "
but not if we upset customers or if we attract the attention of CAA
”, the body which regulates civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Hours after the crash, the accused sent messages to several people asking them to "
shut up
" and suggesting that the incident would open "a
whole Pandora's box
," the prosecutor told jurors.
"
Ibbo crashed the Malibu and killed himself with the VIP passenger!"
Sacred disaster.
There will be an investigation,
”he also sent the next day to the person who was concerned about the pilot's skills.
The latter lost control of the aircraft, which then broke in flight, during a maneuver carried out at too high a speed, "
probably
" intended to avoid bad weather in order to be able to fly on sight, had asserted. in March 2020 the final report of the British Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
