‘I’m a little bit rusty with the landing system’: Haunting last words of missing Cardiff City star’s part-time pilot hours before plane vanished
Mr Sala pictured last year warned friends and family he was scared
The pilot of the missing private plane chartered by the son of a former football mega-agent for Cardiff striker Emiliano Sala said he was ‘a bit rusty’ with its landing system hours before the doomed flight, it was revealed today.
British pilot David Ibbotson, 60, checked into Nantes Atlantique Airport shortly before take-off after admitting to a friend on Facebook he had approached the runway ‘on the high side’ – but joked, tragically: ‘Better than on the low side’.
Hours later at around 8.30pm on Monday night the plane carrying him and his £15million passenger crashed into the Channel off Alderney and both men are missing, presumed dead.
Another day of searching by lifeboats and helicopters was called off tonight at nightfall. Guernsey Police said a decision would be made tomorrow on whether or not to recommence the search in the morning.
Mr Ibbotson, understood to be a part-time pilot who has also worked as a gas engineer and wedding DJ, is said to have flown Sala to Wales when the footballer agreed to sign last Friday.
It is thought he first flew the star back to France to say a ‘final goodbye’ to his former Nantes team-mates on Saturday, and was at the controls during the ill-fated final journey back to Britain 48 hours ago.
The 60-year-old, whose nickname is ‘Dibbo’, has three children and lives with wife Nora near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and according to his Facebook account he checked into a hotel next to Nantes Airport on Saturday night. He is said to be a highly-experienced pilot who specialises in private flights and parachute expeditions but it is unclear how many hours he has flown.
The plane was chartered by the family of a former British mega agents – Scottish-born Willie McKay – who had a hand in the £15million deal. The former Monaco resident is not Sala’s representative but his son Mark is said to have helped with brokering the transfer between Cardiff and Nantes as well as his flight from France to Wales.
Mr McKay Sr is one of Britain’s best known former football agents and has made millions helping top French stars move to England’s top leagues as well as managing Premier League stars including Joey Barton.
His twin sons Paul and Jack, both 22, are both Cardiff players and eldest child Mark has also been involved in a number of high-profile transfers including Dimitri Payet’s £10.7million move to West Ham.
Mark McKay said: ‘I can confirm that when Emiliano made myself and his agent Meissa N’Diaye aware that he wished to travel back to Nantes following his medical and signing on Friday, I began to look into arranging a private flight to take him to Nantes on Saturday morning.’
