"It's like Jersey Lifts, but in the sky"

Thursday 10 February 2022

With the inquest into footballer Emiliano Sala’s death off Alderney due to start next week, a local commercial pilot is warning that illegal charters are still happening regularly in Jersey.

Capt Lee McConnell says passengers, who are often ignorant of whether the person flying them is licensed, are being put at risk, and wants to see the new Channel Islands Director of Civil Aviation take action to clamp down on these so-called ‘grey charters’.

28-year-old Argentinian player Sala died in January 2019 when the plane he was travelling in from Nantes to Cardiff crashed.

The aircraft was travelling through Jersey airspace at the time and the pilot, David Ibbotson, was talking with Air Traffic Control at the Airport immediately before the Piper Malibu Mirage broke up.

In its final report into the crash, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch concluded that Mr Sala, whose remains were retrieved from the aircraft wreckage on the seabed, had been exposed to potentially lethal levels of carbon monoxide, which may have incapacitated Mr Ibbotson, whose body has never been found.

Crucially, the report concluded that Mr Ibbotson received a fee to transport the footballer, who was involved in a £15m transfer deal, despite only holding a private pilot licence.

The organiser of the flight, David Henderson, was jailed for 18 months in October.

The high-profile crash, which made headlines around the world, lifted the lid on the hidden world of ‘grey charters’, which most commonly involve a private pilot flying a person, pet or cargo for financial gain.

Yet it is a practice which industry insiders say is not only still going on post-Sala but actually becoming a growing problem.

Pictured: Captain Lee McConnell: "There are virtually no inspections of corporate aviation aircraft locally".

Capt Lee McConnell is a co-founder of local private jet company Ortac, which hold an ‘Air Operator’s Certificate’, meaning that the Airport-based firm is licensed to use aircraft for commercial reasons.

“It is definitely happening in Jersey,” he said. “It is frustrating because you know that passengers are being put at risk, although they can often be ignorant of whether the person who is flying them or the aircraft they are in are properly licensed.

“In many ways it is equivalent to getting a ride on Jersey Lifts, except you’re now in the sky.”

If a flight is operated for hire and reward, it is classified as an air-taxi service and must be approved by the relevant aviation authority to carry paying passengers.

Capt McConnell said it was important to distinguish between cost-sharing and chartering. Four people might split the cost of a private flight four ways, which is allowed, but as soon as someone makes money, it is classed as a commercial charter service.

And if that happens, the pilot needs a commercial licence, insurance, and an AOC.

“We have an AOC, we always fly with two pilots, our crew are fully insured and have the right medical certificates, our aircraft meet all the airworthiness standards and have a fully transparent tax status,” he said.

“AOC status also requires a structure, including an operations department, backed up by compliance and other functions. Of course, there is a cost to holding an AOC but that is the cost of meeting the right standards of safety and care.”

For Capt McConnell, the way to stamp our grey charters in Jersey is clear: the island’s Director of Civil Aviation needs to enforce legislation already in place.

At the moment, Jersey has a UK-based Acting DCA after the last Channel Islands' DCA resigned amid controversy at the end of 2020.

However, recently the island has teamed up with Guernsey again to recruit a Channel Islands’ director.

The deadline for applications closed at the end of last month.

Pictured: 'Grey charters' - where a private pilot carries someone for commercial gain - are illegal.

Whoever is appointed does not have to live locally but will have a full-time Deputy DCA in each island to carry out day-to-day operations.

“Hopefully the Channel Islands' DCA will start tackling this issue with more on-site inspections of operators locally and we really do need to see more proactive anti-grey charter campaigns,” said Capt McConnell.

“There are virtually no inspections of corporate aviation aircraft locally in either island - this fact encourages the poor behaviour and work around of the regulations by unscrupulous private operators.”

The inquest into Emiliano Sala’s death is due to begin on Monday in Bournemouth. According to the coroner, the probe will consider the flight arrangements, the operation, condition, and maintenance of the aircraft, the pilot’s qualifications, the flight itself, and the search and recovery of Sala’s body.