Quote:
Originally Posted by windy waffles
Interim report is out and is pretty damning of the pilot. Key facts:
- Sala's plane hit the water within 30 metres of losing radar contact and broke into three pieces; The engine was thrown out, the wings snapped and the tail and fin are still missing;
- Air Accident Investigation Branch report releases chilling images of the Piper Malibu jet 220ft down on of the bed of the Channel
- Investigators are trying to work out if the plane's instruments were giving the correct altitude readings before hitting the Channel;
- The plane did not have the permission to carry paying passengers and the pilot David Ibbotson did not have a commercial licence, only a private pleasure licence;
- Mr Ibbotson took a meandering route to Cardiff and made four descents within minutes of crash because he did not have the qualifications to fly with just instruments in bad weather (and yet went out in a storm );
- Around 15 seconds before the fatal crash he plunged at a rate of 7,000ft per minute - equivalent to around 90mph;
|
What's your source for this?
I was a flight engineer (civil aviation) and during the last 15 years I'm working several months of the year as a training consultant for commercial pilots.
The word within the aviation community is that the AAIB has yet to determine Ibbotson's status re his licence, although there are various rumours going around, so I'm interested to know where this info came from.