On January 21, 2019, Argentinian footballer Emiliano Sala passed away in a plane crash while flying over to the English Channel.
On February 4, authorities found the body in the submerged plane, released it on February 6, and confirmed the following day that it was indeed Sala’s body.
The player was buried in the city of Progreso on February 16, 2019.
BBC Publishes Phone Calls from Pilots Before the Airplane Takes Off
The BBC was granted access to an audio recording of the plane’s pilot, David Ibbotson, telling a friend that ‘the plane is unreliable’ and ‘I will be wearing my life jacket’.
The pilot also admits to hearing a loud noise, impacting the plane during a previous flight.
“I was in the middle of the English Channel and I heard a ‘bang’. I didn’t know what happened,” Ibbotson was heard admitting.
“I took the opportunity to check everything, I checked my parameters. As everything was fine, I continued flying. But it really caught my attention.”
During the call, the pilot also complained that the left brake pedal was not working and that the 35-year-old Piper Malibu had a “very low and dense fog” on board that made flying potentially dangerous.
This aircraft has to go back to the hangar. It’s a very unreliable aircraft,” insists Ibbotson.
Sala’s Shocking Audio and His Voice Message to his Loved Ones
Sala can also be heard in the recording telling some colleagues on the plane that the plane had trouble taking off from Nantes on its way to Cardiff.
According to the reports stated by the French newspaper Ouest t France, Sarah sent several messages to his teammate Nicolas Pallois, who drove him to the airport, saying the plane took off “three or five times” before succeeding.
After takeoff, Emiliano Sala recorded a voice message sent to loved ones in Argentina via WhatsApp, expressing concern about the state of the plane.
“It looks like the plane is falling apart… if in an hour and a half you don’t hear from me…,” Sala could be heard saying.
