On 21 January 2019, a Piper PA-46 Malibu light aircraft transporting Argentine football player Emiliano Sala crashed in the English Channel off Alderney in the Channel Islands. It had been travelling from Nantes, France, to Cardiff, Wales. Sala was due to begin his career at Cardiff City.

Radar contact was lost when the aircraft was 13 nautical miles (24 km; 15 mi) north of Guernsey. After the search for survivors was abandoned on 24 January, a private search for wreckage was launched. Sala's body was recovered, but no trace of the pilot David Ibbotson was found.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigation found that Sala's body showed high levels of exposure to carbon monoxide which had leaked into the cabin of the aircraft and may have impaired the judgement of the pilot. Ibbotson's rating for flying the aircraft had expired in November 2018 which invalidated his licence, and he was not qualified to fly at night. David Henderson, who organised the flight and was originally scheduled to be the pilot, was charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft. He was found guilty on 28 October 2021, after a trial at Cardiff Crown Court and jailed for 18 months.

The aircraft departed from Nantes Atlantique Airport at 19:15 GMT (20:15 CET) bound for Cardiff Airport. Sala had been signed two days previously by Cardiff City Football Club from FC Nantes. The pilot was identified by Guernsey Police as David Ibbotson. Shortly before contact with Jersey air traffic control was lost, a request was made by the pilot to descend from 5,000 to 2,500 feet (1,520 to 760 m), in order to maintain visual meteorological conditions. Radar contact was lost when the aircraft was at an altitude of 2,300 feet (700 m). Ibbotson lost control of the aircraft while manoeuvring to avoid cloud, and the tailfin and part of both wings broke away with the speed in excess of the design limit.

At 20:23 GMT, Guernsey Coastguard received an alert from Jersey air traffic control saying that a plane had gone off the radar around 13 nautical miles (24 km; 15 mi) north of Guernsey. The plane was then around 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8 mi) northwest of Alderney, Channel Islands, near Casquets lighthouse.

The flight was arranged by football agent Willie McKay, who said that he was not involved in selecting the plane or the pilot. David Henderson had originally intended to fly the plane himself, but the flight was given to David Ibbotson. The flight plan showed that the plane was scheduled to take off at 09:00 GMT (10:00 CET) on 21 January, but was delayed until the evening.

The aircraft involved was a Piper PA-46 Malibu, a six-seat type equipped with a single piston engine, registered in the United States as N264DB, serial number 46-8408037. The aircraft was manufactured in 1984. The Certificate of Registration had been issued on 11 September 2015.

Ibbotson and Sala had expressed misgivings about the aircraft they were using. In a telephone conversation after landing at Nantes, Ibbotson described it as "dodgy" and recounted how he had heard a bang while they were mid-channel. In a WhatsApp audio message sent just before takeoff on the return flight, Sala said "I am now on board a plane that seems like it is falling to pieces... If you do not have any more news in an hour and a half, I don't know if they need to send someone to find me. I am getting scared!" Cardiff City had offered Sala a commercial flight from Paris, but he said that he had made alternative arrangements and would be training with his new teammates on the morning after the flight.