The 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.

[4] 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.

[2][7] 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.

[14] The aircraft involved was a Piper PA-46 Malibu, a six-seat type equipped with a single piston engine,[15] registered in the United States as N264DB,[16] serial number 46-8408037.

[2] As of 15:30 GMT on 22 January, one aircraft and one lifeboat were still searching, bringing the total area covered to 872 square nautical miles (2,991 km2; 1,155 sq mi).

They planned to focus on some 25 square nautical miles (86 km2; 33 sq mi) of the seabed; the last known position of the aircraft was north of Hurd's Deep.

[33] On 30 January 2019 the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) reported that two seat cushions, found on a beach near Surtainville in France, were likely to be from the missing aircraft.

[48][49] Attempts to recover the aircraft wreckage were unsuccessful and poor weather conditions forced the salvage team to return the ROV to the ship.

[49] The daughter of the pilot David Ibbotson launched a crowdfunding appeal to locate his body, which raised over £250,000, including a donation of £27,000 from French footballer Kylian Mbappé.

[51][52] The money raised was used to pay for a second dive to the wreck on 27 February and for a helicopter search of coastal areas in the Channel Islands, but no body was found.

Under Annex 13 to the Convention on Civil Aviation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had responsibility for investigating the accident because the aircraft was registered in the United States.

[59][7]: 8  While at Nantes Atlantique Airport, Ibbotson had posted on Facebook that he was "a bit rusty" with the instrument landing system on the Piper Malibu.

[60] Post mortem tests on Sala's body showed exposure to carbon monoxide with a carboxyhemoglobin level of 58%, which could have led to symptoms including seizure, unconsciousness or a heart attack.

The AAIB said that it had no plans to raise the wreckage of the plane from the seabed, saying "In this case, we consider that it will not add significantly to the investigation and we will identify the correct safety issues through other means.

The jury said that Ibbotson may have "felt under pressure" to fly due to the importance of the customer, while the coroner called for tighter regulation of unlicensed commercial flights.

[66] In September 2019, the director of the company responsible for security at the mortuary in Bournemouth was jailed for 14 months, for accessing CCTV footage of Sala's post-mortem and posting it on Twitter.

[67][68] In June 2019, Dorset Police arrested David Henderson on suspicion of manslaughter by an unlawful act in respect of the death of Sala.

[13][69][70] Police decided not to proceed with the case for manslaughter,[71] but on 26 October, Henderson appeared at Cardiff Crown Court, via video link, charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft and attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorisation.