Finally answers?
David Henderson, suspected of having organized the flight supposed to transport Emiliano Sala to Wales - but which never arrived at its destination - is tried on Monday in a court in Cardiff.
The 66-year-old is accused of acting in a reckless or negligent manner that could have endangered the plane in which the player was traveling.
The small private plane aboard which were the 28-year-old Argentinian and the pilot, David Ibbotson, crashed in the English Channel on January 21, 2019. The FC Nantes striker was joining the Cardiff City club, where he came from to be transferred for 17 million euros.
The body of the player, whose disappearance had moved the football world, was found in the carcass of the device, more than two weeks after the accident, at a depth of 67 m.
The body of the 59-year-old pilot has not been found.
Read also Death of Emiliano Sala: the story of a universal drama
In its final report published in March 2020, the British Aviation Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) estimated that the pilot lost control of the aircraft during a maneuver performed at too high a speed, "probably" intended to avoid bad weather in order to be able to fly on sight. The aircraft, a Piper PA-46 Malibu, then crashed in flight. Investigators also believe that the pilot was "probably" poisoned with carbon monoxide by the engine exhaust system. The plane was launched at a speed of 270 miles per hour (435 km / h) at the time of impact with the water, according to the AAIB, excluding any hope of survival.
Investigators also pointed out that the flight was not carried out under conditions that comply with the rules that apply for commercial flights.
The pilot sailed by sight, at night, in difficult weather conditions when he did not have the license to pilot this type of plane or to fly at night, they noted.
“What am I afraid!
"
The flight was chartered by the British pilot David Henderson, at the request of the intermediary Willie McKay and his son Mark, the agent mandated by Nantes to carry out the transfer of Sala.
The Cardiff club had assured to have offered a commercial flight to the player, who had declined.
Before taking the small private plane, Emiliano Sala was worried about the condition of the aircraft.
"I'm on the plane, it looks like it's going to fall apart, and I'm leaving for Cardiff," Emiliano Sala said in a voicemail message sent to relatives via WhatsApp messaging.
“Oh my, what am I afraid!
», He had confided.
VIDEO.
Emiliano Sala's chilling message from the plane: "Daddy, what am I afraid"
David Henderson had pleaded not guilty to breaches of air navigation law in a previous appearance in October 2020 in Cardiff court.
At the end of this hearing, this man from East Yorkshire (northern England) was released on bail pending trial.
Emiliano Sala's remains were repatriated in February 2019 to Argentina.
Parents, friends, emissaries from Nantes, Bordeaux and Cardiff, inhabitants… There were hundreds of them who came to bow, cry, lay a hand on the footballer's coffin in Progreso, the Argentinian village of 3,000 inhabitants who had seen him to grow.
In France, the tributes had also multiplied after the announcement of the disappearance of the footballer.
Vahid Halilhodzic, then coach of FC Nantes, had confided about the athlete to have "rarely seen someone so endearing, humble, modest.
But on the ground, he was a warrior ”.
