AAIB confirm search plans after cushions wash up

Thursday 31 January 2019

The Air Accident Investigation Branch has confirmed what it is doing in the aftermath of last week's plane incident, after it was revealed two cushions which washed up on the French coast on Monday probably did come from the missing light aircraft carrying footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot Dave Ibbotson.

Oceanographer David Mearns had already held a press conference at Guernsey Airport earlier this week, alongside members of the Sala family, to explain what he planned to do to find the missing plane, after a Go Fund Me campaign raised £300,000 for a search to be resumed.

Pictured: Dave Ibbotson and Emiliano Sala. 

On Wednesday, nine days after the plane went missing above Alderney, the Air Accident Investigation Branch released a statement to say that cushions thought to belong to the plane had washed up in Surtainville on the French west coast. They were alerted to them on Monday morning by the Bureau d’Enquêtes & d’Analyses (BEA) in France.

The AAIB has now said these cushions are believed to come from the missing Piper Malibu. It also confirmed it began an investigation into the plane's disappearance on Tuesday 22 January, just hours after the light aircraft lost contact with Air Traffic Control in Jersey.

A search was immediately launched to try and find the plane and the two men but it was called off two days later, when the Guernsey Harbourmaster announced it would officially cease the search effort around Alderney waters. 

The AAIB told Express that its intention was always to conduct a seabed search but it was dependant on finding a suitable vessel. 

"The end of the surface search and rescue operation was a decision made by local authorities.

"AAIB has been considering the feasibility of a seabed search for aircraft wreckage over the last week. We were able to announce our intention once we had secured a suitable vessel. In any case, due to the weather forecast, this coming weekend is the earliest advisable time to begin the search,” an AAIB spokesperson said. 

His search had already been arranged before the AAIB confirmed that cushions, found by two women on beaches at Baubigny and Surtainville on the west coast of France last weekend, were from the missing plane.  

Pictured: One of the cushions reported by a French news site to be the ones which the Bureau d’Enquêtes & d’Analyses (BEA) in France alerted the AAIB about on Monday morning. 

Speaking to actu.fr, Josette Bernerd, who reportedly found one of the pieces of wreckage in Surtainville on Saturday, said she alerted police who collected the items.

"It was a backrest and I could see it was a backrest from the missing plane. I called the police, who then put me in touch with the coast-guards in Cherbourg. They came to collect the backrest,” she was quoted as saying.

Camille Leblond also found a piece of debris which she reported to police on Sunday. 

“I was walking my dogs on the beach. At first I thought 'It must come from a boat.' It was 17:30 and it was close to the Bel Sito camping site, it’s the main access to the beach in Baubigny.

"I thought that if it was my brother on the plane, I would like whoever finds clues to say something. When I got home, an hour later, I called the police in Barneville-Carteret. They told me they would come to collect the piece. My parents told me later they had passed them. It’s just presumed debris. Maybe it’s the backrest from a boat seat. Anywyay, that’s all I saw. It was really windy on Sunday.”

Pictured: The cushions washed up on the coast of France directly across from Sark on this map. 

Pictured top: The search vessel which is now in St Peter Port Harbour, will start sweeping the sea bed for clues to the whereabouts of the missing plane on Sunday.