The plane that had been carrying the Cardiff striker and pilot David Ibbotson was found at the bottom of the channel by shipwreck hunter David Mearns on Sunday. And now experienced ex-pilots are claiming Mr Ibbotson may have been forced to take action at about 3000ft due to the freezing conditions, which ultimately triggered catastrophe. A pilot told Prune.com online pilots' forum: “With a freezing level at about 3000ft and intermittent precipitation they'd likely have been in significant icing at 4000ft so a descent to 2300 sounds plausibly like a descent into warmer air.
“The puzzle is why a relatively powerful aircraft like that wasn't being flown at a more credible altitude above the tops if they were indeed at 5000?”
Others predicted it was ice that took the aircraft - a Piper Malibu - down, but questioned why the pair were flying in the first place.
One said: “My money is on ice taking them down (or out of control.) But with that weather announced, they should have stayed on the ground.”
Another asked: “If it was to stay VFR?? At night??? Over the channel? In winter?? In single engine?? With a snow front coming towards you? Too many questions for my brain.”
Emiliano Sala's missing plane could have crashed due to ice, pilots claim (Image: INSTAGRAM/FACEBOOK)
