OWNERS OF SALA DEATH PLANE PAY TO KEEP IDENTITY SECRET

Revealed: How faceless owner of Emiliano Sala's deathtrap plane had it registered in US and paid UK firm to keep their identity secret - meaning air crash investigators are BANNED from naming them
By Martin Robinson - MailOnline


Friday 16th August 2019

Plane's owner pays small Suffolk company £450-a-year to register plane in US

US Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] do not name individual owners

Emiliano Sala and his pilot David Ibbotson were exposed to 'deadly' levels of CO

Engineer Humphrey Penney said plane had 'a lot of problems' and 'unfit to fly'

Regular pilot was 'unhappy with maintenance' and owner is Faye Keely, he claims

The mystery owner of Emiliano Sala's private plane registered the aircraft in the US using a British company paid £450-a-year to help keep their identity secret, MailOnline can reveal today.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch [AAIB], who revealed yesterday that Sala and his pilot David Ibbotson were poisoned by carbon monoxide seeping into the cabin, says its investigators have established the true identity of the UK-based owner.

But it is barred from revealing who it is because the records are held by the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] in Washington DC whose own regulations prevent this crucial information being made public.

The FAA also chooses not to publish a plane's annual 'MOT' - known as a certificate of airworthiness - or when it is due to expire.

More than 600 UK-based plane owners have used the same loophole because aircraft registration in America is cheaper than in Britain and maintenance costs are also understood to be lower.

Airfield owner Humphrey Penney told MailOnline last night that the aircraft had 'a lot of problems' and was 'unfit to fly' in the months before it crashed in the Channel.

He also claimed that regular pilot David Henderson, who was arrested and bailed in June on suspicion of manslaughter, was 'unhappy with the maintenance' and also named 45-year-old Faye Keely, an accountant from Nottinghamshire, as the owner.

The FAA registration document for Sala's doomed plane reveal Southern Aircraft Consulting in Suffolk gold the Piper Malibu in a trust, helping owners shield their identities


The ownership issue may prove vital to the question of who proves financially liable for the losses incurred by Cardiff City, who paid £15million for Sala.

A criminal prosecution is likely to follow the AAIB’s final report when it is published by the end of 2019.

Doomed plane's owners have finally been found - but their names will be kept secret because the jet is US-registered


FAA registration allows owners to protect their identity, for security or financial reasons, whereas in the UK the Civil Aviation Authority names the owner of every plane it with a UK licence.

Enquiries over the past year have centred on Faye Keely's mysterious firm Cool Flourish, listed at Companies House as a management consultancy business.

She is the company’s major shareholder and is listed by the companies register as resident at a property at Alfreton, Derbyshire, which is deserted and unfurnished.

Another director, her sister Heather Keely, 41, has also not been traced, while a mansion listed as the home of an older former director Terence Keely - believed to be their father - is also empty.


The AAIB says it cannot name the owner but a report earlier this year said the person it belonged to 'had an informal arrangement with a third party to manage the aircraft on its behalf'.

Regular pilot David Henderson was expected to fly the plane from Nantes to Cardiff on January 21 this year - but has never spoken about why he pulled out only to confirm that he was alive after the flight manifest in France allegedly named him as pilot.

He was arrested in June on suspicion of the manslaughter of Sala and his pilot David Ibbotson, 59, from Scunthorpe, who also perished in the air disaster, but remains on bail two months later.

The doomed Piper Malibu aircraft that crashed in the Channel on January 21 was registered to a small British firm called the Southern Aircraft Consultancy which charges £450 per year to hold the plane in an American trust.

The business in Bungay, Suffolk is understood to manage hundreds of aircraft registered in the same way.

Mysteriously 39-year-old aircraft's listing with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) states that there were no previous owners.

And in 2015 it changed hands four times in a single day, MailOnline understands.

The British engineer who inspected the Piper Malibu aircraft in the months before the crash told MailOnline was so riddled with faults that an engineer had refused to repair it, saying: 'It was not fit to be flown.'


Details of owners of the aircraft have been shrouded in mystery.

One person who is known to have a connection to the aircraft is David Henderson - the pilot who was reportedly due to fly it but pulled out at the 11th hour.

Mr Henderson from York, was filmed by the BBC with the plane at Retford Gamston Airport in 2015 for a feature transporting small planes across continents to new owners.

Humphrey Penney, who is also a licensed engineer, was asked to give a second opinion on the stricken Piper PA-46 Malibu in summer last year and said he believes that it was unsafe.

He spoke out for the first time following yesterday's interim report published by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch which showed that 28-year-old Argentinian striker Sala and his pilot David Ibbotson were exposed to deadly levels of the toxic gas even before the private plane plunged into the English Channel.


Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Mr Penney said: 'What happened it all so sad and tragic. We had deep concerns about the plane when we looked it at a year ago. We nearly took it on but didn't because there were so many problems with it.'

Mr Henderson, originally thought to be the pilot who perished on the plane, had taken it to Sandtoft Airport in Belton, North Lincolnshire, on behalf of the owner chartered accountant Faye Keely.

Sandtoft boss Mr Penney, recalling his examination of the plane, said: 'Christ, this is awful! A lot needs doing.'

He added: 'The hydraulic motor was a shambles and the flaps, autopilot and de-icing system weren't working and there were several other problems.

'There was a long list of things things that needed doing and it was going to cost an awful lot of money to put it right, in the region of £14,000 to £20,000.

'It was not in a fit state to be flown for a passenger but only in an emergency a short distance for maintenance and to get it fixed.'


The American craft registered to a Trust with a beneficial British owner, Ms Keely from Bonsall, Derbyshire - a pilot herself - had come to Mr Penney for a second expert opinion from Retford Gamston Airport in Gamston, Nottinghamshire, where it had been based long term.

Mr Penney said: 'It was moved here for a relatively short period and we then sent it to another organisation for the recommended work to be done. I can't comment on what work was later done.'

The plane was moved to nearby Sturgate Airfield in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. No one was available to comment when approached by MailOnline.

Mr Penney added: 'I cannot say if the maintenance was done thoroughly and properly and if it was all fixed but the plane would have had an annual inspection at the end of the year. If all was good and dandy the plane should have flown safely.

'I know a very large bill for over £10,000 was presented to Faye.'


Mr Penney, is now helping air investigators following the shocking crash on January 21 killing new £15 million Cardiff City striker Sala and married father Mr Ibbotson, 59, from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire,

He told MailOnline he was 'a little surprised' by the bombshell report stating that the footballer had CO saturation levels of 58 per cent in his blood stream and the pilot was overcome by lethal fumes too, saying: 'I was not expecting that. That is new information.'


Piston engine planes such as the Piper Malibu carrying Emiliano Sala produce high concentrations of Carbon Monoxide (CO) that are conveyed away from the aircraft though the exhaust system.

But the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said that poor sealing of the cabin, or leaks into the heating and ventilation system from the exhaust can provide pathways for CO to enter the cabin.

Whilst piston engines produce the highest concentration of CO, exhausts from turbine engines also contain CO.

Several alarms are available for aircraft including stick-on pads that change colour in the presence of CO to battery-powered detectors that sound loudly when the gas is detected.

These devices are not mandatory in aircraft under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) or US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.

Guidance says that if CO is detected or someone on board falls ill the pilot must land as soon as possible.

But with Sala's plane already over the Channel, in dark and freezing conditions, the aircraft went into the sea.

He said that even the 'tiniest hole' in a plane's exhaust can cause a carbon monoxide leak, adding: 'One of the first things to go is the muffler, which goes over the exhaust system to warm the air coming into the craft. Even the tiniest hole can cause carbon monoxide to pour through the exhaust and go into the cabin.

'Unfortunately, it will poison the pilot and any passenger.They will feel nauseous and drift off to sleep. It affects people in different ways but there is no odour and it is deadly dangerous.'


AAIB experts fear fumes from the Piper Malibu's engine may have leaked into the cabin as it flew from Nantes, France, to Cardiff and poisoned the two men on board.

Mr Ibbotson's widow Nora believes that trying to safely bring the aircraft up from the seabed could be a way to find some answers about what happened.

She also told Sky News that carbon monoxide potentially having any part in what happened had 'never even occurred to me, it was all about the weather and things like that.'

She described the development as 'a massive shock' telling Sky News: 'It makes a big difference because they've been poisoned, they have no idea it's a lethal gas.

'You can't smell it. You can't see it. It's lethal, they wouldn't have known.

'So it's nothing to do with the flying or anything like that, it's down to the aircraft.'


Mrs Ibbotson said she must now wait for answers, adding: 'It's not going to change my situation, I've lost a husband, a father, a grandfather. Nothing can repay that, and change it.'

It is not known if the plane had a carbon monoxide alarm on board - but aviation experts say is not mandatory to have one in the cockpit or cabin in Europe or the US.

Mr Penney is urging for the remains of the small plane, which ploughed into the sea 22 miles off Guernsey, to be brought to the surface for examination.

He said: 'If there was a fault in the muffler, a hole which caused carbon monoxide leakage, it will help answer many questions. It is made of high temperature steel, and has probably not corroded.'


An interim report published by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch this afternoon revealed that Sala had CO saturation levels of 58 per cent in blood taken from his dead body.

Doctors have told crash investigators that levels in excess of 50 per cent in the bloodstream typically causes seizures, then unconsciousness, followed by cardiac arrest and death.

The bombshell report raises the prospect that the footballer and his pilot may have blacked out or even perished before the small plane ploughed into the sea 22 miles off Guernsey on January 21 this year.

Cardiff City's £15million record signing from FC Nantes was found dead in the wreckage of the doomed aircraft, which remains 220ft down on the seabed near the Channel's most perilous underwater valley, known as Hurd's Deep.

Sala's relatives in Argentina called for search ships to return to pull up the fuselage for testing so they can get the truth about how he and his pilot died.

They may even launch another crowdfunding effort to pay the US private shipwreck hunter who found the plane in February to attempt to raise it from the Channel for them.

The UK AAIB has this evening ruled out returning to pull up the craft.

A spokesman said 'In February our underwater search operation successfully located the wreckage, recovered the passenger's body and captured substantial video evidence from the scene using a remotely operated vehicle.

'It was not possible at the time to recover the wreckage. We have carefully considered the feasibility and merits of returning to attempt to recover the wreckage. In this case, we consider that it will not add significantly to the investigation and we will identify the correct safety issues through other means'.

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The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has established the identity of the owner of the doomed Sala jet but will not name them.

A spokesman said: 'Our Regulations don't permit us to disclose the name of an aircraft owner'.


Investigators will be checking whether the Piper Malibu was properly maintained and safe before its final flight.

Details of owners of the aircraft have been shrouded in mystery.

Earlier this year it emerged that these have been removed or withheld from the US' Federal Aviation Administration in what appears to a concerted attempt to keep their identity a secret.

Establishing the identity of the owners was the first priority of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, (AIIB) which is examining the crash.

The Piper Malibu has been registered in the US in the name of a Suffolk-based trustee firm, Southern Aircraft Consultancy Inc, in a way which prevents the actual owner being known.

The 39-year-old aircraft's listing with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) states that there were no previous owners.

But one company linked to the has past and present directors based at three UK addresses.

But two of those were empty, with all furniture removed. Staff at another address – a mansion in Nottinghamshire - ordered reporters to leave the grounds.

The ownership issue may prove vital to the question of who proves financially liable for the losses incurred by Cardiff City - who are legally bound to pay Nantes for the player who died before he had a chance to kick a ball for them.

One person who is known to have a connection to the aircraft is David Henderson - the pilot who was reportedly due to fly it but pulled out at the 11th hour

Mr Henderson from York, was was filmed by the BBC with the plane at Retford Gamston Airport in 2015 for a feature transporting small planes across continents to new owners

Chris, I don’t normally comment on this type of thing as all I’ve seen from most posters since this tragic event happened is guessing, assuming and blaming when people, actually, no nothing.

Reading that report, the actual facts of the state of the plane is what’s shocked me the most.
How the events were allowed to escalate is beyond me.

Let’s hope that eventually the people responsible - and there must be someone at fault- is brought to justice.

After reading that article I see no need to salvage the plane. The AAIB should send somebody down to check the condition of the muffler and the surrounding area unless they don't already have the necessary video evidence.I also think no blame should be apportioned to the owner of the plane provided the necessary repairs were carried out and the annual safety certificate were obtained before the fatal flight.

After reading that article I see no need to salvage the plane. The AAIB should send somebody down to check the condition of the muffler and the surrounding area unless they don't already have the necessary video evidence.I also think no blame should be apportioned to the owner of the plane provided the necessary repairs were carried out and the annual safety certificate were obtained before the fatal flight.

I've said same and its interesting that last paragraph says can use other ways to establish cause of crash? They are world experts in plane crashes they'll simply use same model aircraft to look at where dioxide could enter cabin without need to raise plane. They've said got the necessary evidence through video taken of plane.

I personally cannot see how they can find a fault in a plane by looking at a model or other planes, video evidence that may have been taken cannot look inside a muffler or locate other faults, it would have to be examined manually. The plane needs to be brought up, and I think it will. The AAIB is quoted as saying that as the are a public company they have to look at the costs of bringing the plane up, so cost is going to dictate how the investigation goes.
Also in the article after saying the owner cannot be identified it goes on to name the owner as Faye Keely'. Allegedly all her properties and offices are now empty, and she is nowhere to be found, I leave you to think why that is!

I personally cannot see how they can find a fault in a plane by looking at a model or other planes, video evidence that may have been taken cannot look inside a muffler or locate other faults, it would have to be examined manually. The plane needs to be brought up, and I think it will. The AAIB is quoted as saying that as the are a public company they have to look at the costs of bringing the plane up, so cost is going to dictate how the investigation goes.
Also in the article after saying the owner cannot be identified it goes on to name the owner as Faye Keely'. Allegedly all her properties and offices are now empty, and she is nowhere to be found, I leave you to think why that is!

They are world experts in this kind of investigation simple for them to look at and illuminate causes by looking at same model of plane! What's to say if brought up wreck it's to badly damaged to determine cause of dioxide in cabin then what they do?
Keeley is owner of agency that registers planes in USA so that the owners cannot be identified shes not owner of plane itself

From reading the article it does sound as though Faye Keely was responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft. Whoever owns it is irrelevant regarding the crash.

From reading the article it does sound as though Faye Keely was responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft. Whoever owns it is irrelevant regarding the crash.

There' was a crooked trail towards who owns the plane but at least they now know who it is and judging by article someone will be prosecuted besides person already charged with manslaughter? Be very surprised if either club will be able to sue anyone if cannot know who owner is as they are responsible for its maintenance despite using a company to manage aircraft ultimately owner authorises any work to be carried out... very messy all round

As I said in an earlier post - if a person is found guilty in Criminal Proceedings then they automatically deemed negligent in Civil Proceedings.

What this basically means is that CCFC can sue that person (or their insurers) for losses resultant from the death of Emiliano.

It also means his family can sue that person (or their insurers) for loss of future earnings.