This is a terrible tragedy involving a professional footballer but, let us not forget the other victim, the as yet unnamed pilot. We can only sit, wait, hope and pray for a miracle.
As yet we don’t know the cause of this accident but what surprises me is the reaction that somehow being flown at night over the English Channel is somewhat deemed to have been a dangerous and / or a reckless action to have undertaken. Are you serious? That is a knee jerk reaction without being in full possession of the facts. And now it is being suggested that he made his own flying arrangements.
There must be hundreds of occasions each week when light, single engine aircraft fly across the English Channel at all times of the day and night in all weather conditions, without incident.
The fact they sent aircraft out to search the area in worsening conditions than when the plane went missing should not be overlooked. Below is a quote from Search and Rescue.
Chief executive of the Channel Islands Air Search, John Fitzgerald said: "We were called out by Guernsey Coastguard at 8.30pm, just as the aircraft had dropped off the radar and we were over Alderney by about 9pm.
"We stayed there until midnight before we flew back to Guernsey to change over the crew and refuel.
"There was about 15 to 20 miles visibility so we could see quite a lot during the first search but the lifeboats found it quite difficult. That area is always quite rough but from 1,000 feet, we can see straight down.
"It was not that bad but at about 2 or 3am wintry showers set in and the search was postponed. We went out again at 8am."
The fact the aircraft was allowed to take off at all suggest there was no concerns over safety. We need to wait for the Crash Investigation Teams report before jumping to conclusions. It might, just might have been an unforeseeable accident that could not have been mitigated whatever precautions were taken.