Light aircraft disappears with two people on board...

[anonymous-user]

Guvernator said:

Fair enough except I didn't think it had been established that it was a commercial arrangement. I thought the pilot wasn't allowed to carry paying passengers, officially at any rate.

Also can it be proven that Henderson definitely knew the plane was defective or that the pilot didn't have the correct rating?

I just think a lot of it would be pretty difficult to prove and a decent lawyer would have a field day so a bit weird that he was held on suspicion.

That's just part of the process - someone will have paid somebody for the flight. So someone in the chain should have been checking these things. It might not be the bloke who's been arrested.

[Guvernator]

Dr Jekyll said:

The pilot wasn't qualified to fly for payment, although it's debateable whether this led to the accident. Flying into bad weather when he was neither experienced in, nor qualified to, was almost certainly a factor but that was the pilot's decision.


The defectiveness of the aircraft appears to have been the deicing gear, I'm not sure whether that made it legally defective.

Yep I get all that, my point was trying to pin it all onto this Henderson chap seems a bit odd. Unless they have pretty strong proof that Henderson knew the pilot wasn't properly rated and the that the plane was defective, I'm not sure how they can accuse him of manslaughter?

Edited by Guvernator on Thursday 20th June 10:43

[Dr Jekyll]

Guvernator said:

Dr Jekyll said:

The pilot wasn't qualified to fly for payment, although it's debateable whether this led to the accident. Flying into bad weather when he was neither experienced in, nor qualified to, was almost certainly a factor but that was the pilot's decision.


The defectiveness of the aircraft appears to have been the deicing gear, I'm not sure whether that made it legally defective.

Yep I get all that, my point was trying to pin it all onto this Henderson chap seems a bit odd. Unless they have pretty strong proof that Henderson knew the pilot wasn't properly rated and the that the plain was defective, I'm not sure how they can accuse him of manslaughter?

I agree, it looks a long shot. Even if they can prove he knew the pilot wasn't qualified, it's tricky to establish manslaughter unless that led to the crash.

[anonymous-user]

Dr Jekyll said:

I agree, it looks a long shot. Even if they can prove he knew the pilot wasn't qualified, it's tricky to establish manslaughter unless that led to the crash.

How would it look if he was found to be running a network of unqualified pilots?

If someone was operating a rail franchise or a coach company with anyone driving what would the situation be then?

[ecsrobin]

Guvernator said:

Dr Jekyll said:

The pilot wasn't qualified to fly for payment, although it's debateable whether this led to the accident. Flying into bad weather when he was neither experienced in, nor qualified to, was almost certainly a factor but that was the pilot's decision.


The defectiveness of the aircraft appears to have been the deicing gear, I'm not sure whether that made it legally defective.

Yep I get all that, my point was trying to pin it all onto this Henderson chap seems a bit odd. Unless they have pretty strong proof that Henderson knew the pilot wasn't properly rated and the that the plain was defective, I'm not sure how they can accuse him of manslaughter?

There’s also the confusion of apparently Henderson had flown out there (not sure if this was cleared up or not)

[227bhp]

"Det Insp Huxter urged people not to speculate about the identity of the man as it could hinder the investigation."
Lol.

Has it become clear why they never found the pilots body yet? (Sorry I really don't want to comb through all 25 pages to find it!)

[Guvernator]

227bhp said:

"Det Insp Huxter urged people not to speculate about the identity of the man as it could hinder the investigation."
Lol.

Has it become clear why they never found the pilots body yet? (Sorry I really don't want to comb through all 25 pages to find it!)

No but it's been speculated that since the plane crashed head first, the front of the plane would have been pretty much destroyed and his body washed out to sea which means it could be anywhere whereas Sala's body was actually found still strapped into the wreckage IIRC.

[poo at Paul's]

Did he ever explain how, (according to French Customs), his passport was scanned at Nantes airport just before the flight? Or was that report debunked? I recall him saying he'd not been to Nantes for over a year or something?

[227bhp]

Guvernator said:

227bhp said:

"Det Insp Huxter urged people not to speculate about the identity of the man as it could hinder the investigation."
Lol.

Has it become clear why they never found the pilots body yet? (Sorry I really don't want to comb through all 25 pages to find it!)

No but it's been speculated that since the plane crashed head first, the front of the plane would have been pretty much destroyed and his body washed out to sea which means it could be anywhere whereas Sala's body was actually found still strapped into the wreckage IIRC.

We don't know whether the pilot was strapped in or not, I wonder if the front is so smashed up that it's still in there...

[ecsrobin]

227bhp said:

We don't know whether the pilot was strapped in or not, I wonder if the front is so smashed up that it's still in there...

I thought they showed images of the cockpit and concluded he wasn’t in it?

[saaby93]

ecsrobin said:

227bhp said:

We don't know whether the pilot was strapped in or not, I wonder if the front is so smashed up that it's still in there...

I thought they showed images of the cockpit and concluded he wasn’t in it?

Didnt someone say the pilot was picked up by a small boat?

[eharding]

AAIB Special Bulletin states that Sala had potentially fatal levels of Carbon Monoxide poisoning - presumably given the dimensions of the cabin the pilot was similarly affected.

AAIB Special Bulletin said:

Toxicology tests on the blood of the passenger showed a carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb)
saturation level of 58%. COHb is the combination product of carbon monoxide (CO) with
haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein molecule contained in red blood cells.

CO is a colourless, odourless gas produced from the incomplete combustion of
carbon-containing materials. It readily combines with haemoglobin in the blood, decreasing
the carriage of oxygen and causing a direct effect on the performance of those parts of
the body which rely on oxygen for proper function. A COHb level of 50% or above in an
otherwise healthy individual is generally considered to be potentially fatal.

[eldar]

That is a very high level. If the pilot was similarly effected, disaster was hardly surprising.

[speedking31]

Where does CO come from in a light aircraft cabin? Faulty heater?

[996Type]

Yes, they use heat exchangers from the exhaust manifold and so monoxide leaking into the cabin is possible. The light aircraft I’ve flow in usually have a detector for this reason as you can quickly be overcome. Terrible situation if it’s this but hopefully they didn’t suffer in their last moments.

[KTF]

Interesting, so maybe people were a bit too quick to jab their pitchforks in the pilot?

[996Type]

I don’t know how the law works exactly but ultimately the pilot is in charge of the aircraft and passengers and it could be argued that provision be made for an emergency such as working monoxide detectors.

It’s along the lines that you are also responsible if you have a car crash and didn’t realise your tyres were below legal limits and these led to the crash.

Such a waste if it was a monoxide leak as it must be a known risk for light aircraft as I see the spot detectors on the training craft I fly from my local club.

Edited by 996Type on Wednesday 14th August 15:10

[red_slr]

That explains a lot. Shame that something so simple caused this but that's often the case in aviation.

[Taylor James]

A very sad case and tragic loss of two people.

At least all the relatives might get some comfort from the thought he would have been unconscious before the plane crashed.

[peterperkins]

Taylor James said:

At least all the relatives might get some comfort from the thought he would have been unconscious before the plane crashed.

Though as the much younger and much fitter of the two he might have remained conscious longer than the pilot

I wonder if they can tell whether he died from drowning/crash injuries or carbon monoxide poisoning before it crashed.

A sad end, and still many questions to be answered and liabilities/responsibilities to be allocated..

Edited by peterperkins on Wednesday 14th August 16:00