The pilot of the airplane that crashed killing footballer Emiliano Sala was not licensed to fly the aircraft, a report has found.
Sala, 28, and pilot David Ibbotson passed away in the crash in the English Channel, 2 days after the striker signed for Cardiff City in January 2019.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch released its findings on Friday.
It stated Sala would have been “deeply unconscious” from carbon monoxide poisoning at the time.
The Argentine gamer was travelling from Nantes, in France, to Cardiff on 21 January 2019, when the single-engine Piper Malibu N264 DB airplane in which he was travelling lost contact with air traffic control north of Guernsey.
Mr Ibbotson lost control of the airplane while descending to prevent cloud and he was probably likewise affected by carbon monoxide, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded.
The aircraft began to separate in mid-air as the pilot attempted to regain control, investigators discovered.
His efforts to bring up from its final dive triggered the tail fin and after that the external edges of both wings to shear off before it struck the sea near Guernsey at an approximated 270 miles per hour (434 kph).
The AAIB report discovered Mr Ibbotson, 59, of Crowle in North Lincolnshire, was not qualified to fly at night and was inexperienced at utilizing the airplane’s instruments, instead of flying by sight.
His rating for that kind of airplane had actually ended in November 2018, invalidating his licence for