Sala pilot revealed: British man, 60, who was initially feared dead in crash 'paid for his replacement's hotel and flight costs' after asking 'Want to spend a weekend in Nantes?'

The Piper Malibu (inset bottom) booked by Willie McKay carrying Cardiff City's new £15million signing (left) vanished over the Channel Islands on Monday January 21 after hitting bad weather en route to Wales from Nantes in France. Football agent Willie McKay wanted his usual pilot David Henderson, 60, (right) to carry the Argentinian striker to Britain but he drafted in David Ibbotson, 59, (inset top) after asking him: 'Do you want to spend a weekend in Nantes?' Mr Ibbotson, a boiler engineer and part-time pilot, had told a friend he was 'a bit rusty' with the instruments of the 35-year-old aircraft and it did not have the licence to carry paying passengers. Describing the period since the crash, Mr McKay, who is renowned for his transfers from England to France, told l'Equipe sports newspaper that it has 'been an absolute nightmare for us.' He said that if he had not allowed Sala to return to his old club, Nantes, to say goodbye to his former teammates and put his beloved dog Nala in kennels 'he would still be with us'.