The businessman who organised the flight which crashed into the English Channel killing footballer Emiliano Sala never checked whether the pilot was qualified to fly the plane, an inquest heard.
Sala, 28, died alongside 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson when the Piper Malibu aircraft crashed into the sea near Guernsey during a flight from France to Wales in January 2019.
The Argentinian striker had just signed for Premier League club Cardiff City in a £15 million transfer from French Ligue One side Nantes.
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Dorset Coroner's Court heard businessman and former RAF pilot David Henderson had organised private return flights taking Mr Sala between Cardiff and Nantes on behalf of football agent Willie McKay, who he had a long-standing association with.
Mr Ibbotson held a private pilot's licence, which did not permit him to fly passengers commercially and charge for his services. Senior Dorset Coroner Rachael Griffin asked Mr Henderson about his knowledge of Mr Ibbotson's qualifications and whether he had asked to see his pilot's licence.
"I just took him at his word that he was an experienced pilot. I had flown with him a couple of times and he was proficient," Mr Henderson replied.
Ms Griffin asked: "Did you even ask to see his licence?"
Mr Henderson replied: "No."
The inquest previously heard how Mr McKay, who brokered the transfer of the Argentinian striker from Ligue 1 side Nantes to the Bluebirds for £15m, knew Cardiff City would not pay for the doomed charter flight.
The hearing in Bournemouth heard the single-engine plane was owned by Cool Flourish - a trust run by Fay Keely and her family. Mr Henderson said he had a verbal agreement with Ms Keely to manage the plane on her behalf and clients would phone him up to arrange flights and he would either take the flight himself or find another pilot.
Ms Keely had previously told the jury the first she knew of Mr Ibbotson flying the plane was when she received two infringement notices from the Civil Aviation Authority in the summer of 2018. And in an email, she told Mr Henderson she did not want Mr Ibbotson flying the plane again.
Asked about that email and his reply of "multiple expletives!!", Mr Henderson said: "I honestly can't remember sending that email. I spoke to her pretty soon after getting that email.
"I think the logical thing is I would have got an explanation from David Ibbotson. These mandatory occurrence reports are very common, and I thought I explained this to Fay. I would have become aware of the infringements, and I would have spoken to David Ibbotson and Fay Keely, and I am sure I smoothed it out, spoke to David Ibbotson and he held his hands up, spoke to Fay and smoothed it out."
Ms Griffin said Ms Keely had told the jury she had not recalled this conversation. Mr Henderson replied: "At the end of the email she said, 'Call me if you want to discuss'. I am confident I spoke to her about it.
"I recall I thought we agreed that David Ibbotson had learnt from his errors and was unlikely to infringe again and he still could fly the aircraft again. David Ibbotson flew Fay's sister on subsequent occasions and there was no adverse feedback from that."
Mr Henderson was asked about an email to Ms Keely in which he apologised for using Mr Ibbotson to fly her sister.
"I think generally people preferred me to fly them and I was apologising for not being able to do it myself," he said. The last maintenance check on the plane was carried out in November 2018 and Mr Henderson said it was airworthy.
Ms Griffin asked: "At the end of that maintenance check did you have any concerns about the condition of that aircraft?"
Mr Henderson replied: "No. There had been maintenance issues with it, but they had been repaired. It was a good aircraft." He said he "could not recall" whether he had flown the Piper Malibu in the months between the last service and the crash.
The inquest has heard Mr Sala was overcome by toxic levels of carbon monoxide poisoning prior to dying from severe head and chest injuries consistent with a plane crash.
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