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Not having seen the METAR (Aviatiors local weather report) at Nantes that evening it is hard to answer. Icing can occur in carburettors of single engine planes in odd circumstances and is always a risk.
Icing on wings is usually dealable with because you concentrate always on keeping the plane in the air. Glide down if you have to.
No mayday indicates they crashed to me.
That said they were probably close to the boundary of or out of Jersey controlled airspace. Jersey airspace is category A. The most regulated in the UK.
Most of the English Channel is in uncontrolled airspace which will surprise many people.
If the pilot was experienced. Very and he had an IMC rating then yes he might have been ok to fly. He would and should have had details of alternative airports and in particular Guernsey and Jersey airport experience.
A better question is .....
Would I want to be a passenger in an old single engine plane being flown by a 60 year old I didn’t know at night over water in Winter?
Hindsight is easy but I think I would want to travel in daylight.
I wonder if Mark Mckay is the man NW refers to as his man in France that sometimes gives him the heads up on French League talent. In the few Q&As I have been to with NW since he came to the club, he mentions a guy who recommended Didier Drogba to him a few years' ago but NW did not go for it. The same guy recommended Luic Damour.
SJB
What you and other pilots on this forum have said is interesting to say the least. It is shining a light on this type of aircraft being used for purposes which get around rules and regulations that apply to fully commercial flights.
I suspect this tragedy will not just involve serious litigation between the parties involved but also a change in the law.
There is a front page piece in todays Telegraph Sport saying that Willie McKay and his family have been through hell over on line abuse, and that people are talking about his sons. He said 'we just tried to help the young guy'( Sala) and had no involvement in selecting a plane and pilot.
I sort of understand his distress and I hope he understands that a lot of people are devastated and aggrieved at the probable death of a young footballer and his pilot.
I can't understand why they would want to interfere in the first place as, in conversation with Jack McKay, Sala says he was in the middle of looking at his flight options. It wasn't as if he was stuck. Also why offer to fly him for free? Someone has to pay somewhere along the line.
As far as the pilot choice was concerned in the Sala/ Mc Kay conversation the flight times for Monday are changed " Because the pilot has to get home in the North after Cardiff.' So at that point it is possible that someone in the family knew who that was and press reports point to David Henderson.
All a sad mystery for now
Bottom line agents have cut costs on a prized asset, and gambled with Sala s life, it’s a very very sad incident
In the same article McKay says he 'made the booking through David Henderson', which contradicts his assertion they had 'no involvement...'. If they left the organising of the plane and pilot to Henderson, who then sourced this plane and inexperienced pilot, both McKay and Henderson have a 'duty of care', and a legal liability regarding the safety of Sala. To put it simply, they are both in it up to their necks, whatever they may both say..