Date:	Monday 21 January 2019
Time:	20:30 LT
Type:	Piper PA-46-310P Malibu
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	N264DB
MSN:	46-8408037
Year of manufacture:	1984
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	English Channel, 22 nm NNW of Guernsey -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Nantes Atlantique Airport (NTE/LFRS)
Destination airport:	Cardiff-Wales Airport (CWL/EGFF)
Investigating agency:	AAIB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The pilot of Piper PA-46-310P Malibu N264DB flew the aircraft and a passenger from Cardiff Airport, U.K. to Nantes Airport, France, on 19 January 2019 with a return flight scheduled for 21 January 2019. The pilot arrived at the airport in Nantes at 12:46 hrs on 21 January to refuel and prepare the aircraft for the flight. At 18:36 hrs the passenger, professional footballer Emiliano Sala, arrived at airport security, and the aircraft taxied out for departure at 19:06 hrs.
The pilot’s planned route would take the aircraft on an almost direct track from Nantes to Cardiff, flying overhead Guernsey en route. The Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight plan indicated a cruise altitude of 6,000 ft amsl and a distance of 265 nm.
The aircraft took off from runway 03 at Nantes Airport at 19:15 hrs, and the pilot asked ATC for clearance to climb to 5,500 ft. The climb was approved by Nantes Approach Control and the flight plan was activated.
The aircraft flew on its planned route towards Cardiff until it was approximately 13 nm south of Guernsey when the pilot requested and was given a descent to remain in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC). The last radio contact with the aircraft was with Jersey Radar at 20:12 hrs, when the pilot asked for a further descent. The aircraft’s last recorded secondary radar point was at 20:16:34 hrs, although two further primary returns were recorded after this. The wreckage of N264DB was subsequently found on the seabed about 30 metres from the position of the last secondary radar point recorded by the radar at Guernsey. Both occupants had suffered fatal injuries.

The investigation identified the following causal factors:
1. The pilot lost control of the aircraft during a manually-flown turn, which was probably initiated to remain in or regain Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC).
2. The aircraft subsequently suffered an in-flight break-up while manoeuvring at an airspeed significantly in excess of its design manoeuvring speed.
3. The pilot was probably affected by carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

The investigation identified the following contributory factors:
1. A loss of control was made more likely because the flight was not conducted in accordance with safety standards applicable to commercial operations. This manifested itself in the flight being operated under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) at night in poor weather conditions despite the pilot having no training in night flying and a lack of recent practice in instrument flying.
2. In-service inspections of exhaust systems do not eliminate the risk of CO poisoning.
3. There was no CO detector with an active warning in the aircraft which might have alerted the pilot to the presence of CO in time for him to take mitigating action.

1. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8249696/plane-vanishes-alderney-channel-islands/
2. https://www.eagleradio.co.uk/news/uk-news/2787550/search-for-plane-missing-near-alderney-in-the-channel-islands/
3. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-46954922
4. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/search-for-plane-missing-near-alderney-in-the-channel-islands/ar-BBSz5RZ
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/aaib-investigation-into-the-loss-of-aircraft-n264db
6. https://penarthnews.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/cardiff-city-soccer-star-salas-35-year-old-plane-made-3-attempts-at-take-off/
7. https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/pilot-missing-footballer-sala-named-2460307
8. https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/La-famille-d-emiliano-sala-relance-les-recherches/981829

Data ____________________

https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?omni=Home-N-Number&nNumberTxt=N264DB
https://www.southernaircraft.co.uk/Home / https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07284818 (the trustee company)
https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2019/01/23/6893781958609617924/1024x576_MP4_6893781958609617924.mp4

AAIB ____________________

Special Bulletin N°1 : https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c73c02bed915d4a3d3b2407/S1-2019_N264DB_Final.pdf
Special Bulletin N°2 : https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d53ea15e5274a42d19b6c2e/AAIB_S2-2019_N264DB.pdf
Final Report: https://www.gov.uk/aaib-reports/aircraft-accident-report-aar-1-2020-piper-pa-46-310p-malibu-n264db-21-january-2019

Photo of N264DB at Coventry, 2017 (by Alec Wilson; CC:by-sa)

Figure: AAIB

Photo: AAIB

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Jan-2019 02:50	Geno	Added
22-Jan-2019 09:08	Iceman 29	Updated [Source, Embed code]
22-Jan-2019 09:13	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code, Photo]
22-Jan-2019 09:18	Iceman 29	Updated [Time]
22-Jan-2019 09:35	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code]
22-Jan-2019 11:38	Iceman 29	Updated [Nature, Embed code, Narrative]
22-Jan-2019 13:23	Iceman 29	Updated [Other fatalities, Embed code]
22-Jan-2019 17:13	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code, Photo]
22-Jan-2019 17:28	RobertMB	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Source, Embed code]
22-Jan-2019 19:26	Iceman 29	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Source]
22-Jan-2019 20:22	ckasmeridis	Updated [Narrative]
22-Jan-2019 20:24	harro	Updated [Total fatalities, Photo]
22-Jan-2019 20:24	harro	Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport]
23-Jan-2019 06:39	Aerossurance	Updated [Embed code, Narrative]
23-Jan-2019 06:46	Anon.	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator]
23-Jan-2019 07:28	Iceman 29	Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Source]
23-Jan-2019 08:57	Anon.	Updated [Registration, Cn, Operator]
23-Jan-2019 08:57	harro	Updated [Source]
23-Jan-2019 10:08	harro	Updated [Registration, Cn, Operator, Source, Narrative]
23-Jan-2019 10:08	harro	Updated [Source]
23-Jan-2019 12:54	harro	Updated [Registration, Source, Narrative]
23-Jan-2019 15:13	RobertMB	Updated [Source, Narrative]
23-Jan-2019 18:35	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative]
23-Jan-2019 20:30	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code, Narrative]
24-Jan-2019 07:42	Iceman 29	Updated [Operator, Nature, Source]
24-Jan-2019 15:58	harro	Updated [Total fatalities, Narrative]
24-Jan-2019 16:00	Iceman 29	Updated [Total fatalities, Source, Narrative, Photo]
24-Jan-2019 16:11	Iceman 29	Updated [Total fatalities]
26-Jan-2019 13:50	Iceman 29	Updated [Source, Narrative]
26-Jan-2019 15:08	Aerossurance	Updated [Location, Source, Embed code]
26-Jan-2019 15:12	Aerossurance	Updated [Source, Narrative]
26-Jan-2019 16:46	Aerossurance	Updated [Narrative]
26-Jan-2019 17:21	Iceman 29	Updated [Source, Narrative]
27-Jan-2019 07:56	Iceman 29	Updated [Source, Photo]
28-Jan-2019 19:24	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
30-Jan-2019 15:42	RobertMB	Updated [Source, Narrative]
03-Feb-2019 21:41	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code, Narrative]
03-Feb-2019 21:42	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code, Damage]
04-Feb-2019 07:10	Iceman 29	Updated [Photo]
04-Feb-2019 11:59	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code, Narrative]
04-Feb-2019 12:00	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code]
04-Feb-2019 13:35	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code]
04-Feb-2019 13:39	Iceman 29	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative]
04-Feb-2019 13:41	Iceman 29	Updated [Narrative]
08-Feb-2019 00:18	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code]
08-Feb-2019 00:21	Iceman 29	Updated [Embed code, Narrative]
25-Feb-2019 14:26	harro	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative]
14-Aug-2019 14:30	Iceman 29	Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative]
13-Mar-2020 14:08	Aerossurance	Updated [Source]
13-Mar-2020 14:09	Aerossurance	Updated [Narrative]
13-Mar-2020 17:13	harro	Updated [Operator, Location, Embed code, Narrative, Accident report, ]
13-Mar-2020 17:17	harro	Updated [Photo, Accident report, ]
13-Mar-2020 17:18	harro	Updated [Embed code, Photo, Accident report, ]