THE pilot flying the plane that crashed with footballer Emiliano Sala on board had never held a night-flying licence, a court has heard.

David Ibbotson, 59, died along with the 28-year-old Argentinian striker when the light aircraft plunged into the English Channel en route from Nantes in France to Cardiff in January 2019.

The night-time flight had been arranged by the plane’s operator, David Henderson, 67, who is on trial at Cardiff Crown Court accused of endangering the safety of an aircraft.

The jury heard on Wednesday that Henderson had hired Mr Ibbotson to fly the single-engine Piper Malibu despite him being unqualified.

Messages recovered from Henderson’s phone after he was arrested in June 2019 showed he knew from at least May 2018 that Mr Ibbotson only held a private pilot licence (PPL), which did not allow him to fly for money, the court heard.

John Overall, from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said that Mr Ibbotson’s rating to fly the Piper Malibu had expired in November 2018.

Mr Overall also said he could find no record of Mr Ibbotson having a certification to fly at night.

Asked by Martin Goudie QC, prosecuting, if someone was allowed to fly at night without a night-flying rating, Mr Overall said: “No. Unless you’re training. It’s a simple ban.”

Messages read out in court between the defendant and Mr Ibbotson from as far back as August 2018 showed he was aware of the pilot’s inability to fly after dark.

On August 14 2018, Henderson asked Mr Ibbotson: “Can you fly at night?”

A reply from Mr Ibbotson a few days later on August 17 said: “Better get my night rating ASAP.”

Further communication in October that year included Henderson informing the pilot: “Night flying will be the norm now. You need your night and IMC ratings.”

He later added: “Can you get your night rating to make it all official?”

Mr Ibbotson told Henderson he would pay to sit the examination the following month because he was currently paying for a holiday to Australia and was short of money.

Henderson later told Mr Ibbotson it was an “essential investment”.

The prosecution claims that, despite Henderson knowing Mr Ibbotson could not legally fly at night, he hired him for the return journey from the French city to the Welsh capital, which was going to take place on the evening of January 21 2018, when sunset was expected to be 4.30pm.

A statement from Evren Fencioglu, an operations officer for aviation services company Signature Flight Support, which looks after private aircraft arriving at and departing from Cardiff, was read to the court, revealing that the plane carrying Sala had been expected to land at around 10.30pm.

It said: “At about 9.05pm Cardiff Airport traffic control informed me contact had been lost about 14 miles off the coast of Guernsey.”

Sala’s body was recovered from the seabed the following month but neither that of Mr Ibbotson, from Crowle in North Lincolnshire, nor the wreckage of the plane was found.

Earlier, the plane’s owner, Fay Keely, told the hearing that she had bought it in 2015 through her family’s company, Cool Flourish Ltd, under advice from Henderson, who was known to her father.

She said that, on July 6 2018, she had emailed Henderson saying: “I think it would be best not to ask him (Mr Ibbotson) to pilot again.”

This was after she had been contacted by the CAA about two infringements that had happened while Mr Ibbotson was in the air.

Ms Keely wrote: “As this is now two incidents involving David Ibbotson both being picked the CAA I think it would be best if he was not asked to pilot the Malibu again.

“I appreciate this limits the available pilots but it does not give me much confidence in his care of the aircraft.”