Regulatory authorities have confirmed that Mr Ibbotson, from Crowle, North Lincolnshire, did not hold a "night rating" on his UK private pilot's licence, the BBC understands. His UK licence was mirrored by a US pilot's licence - enabling him to fly the US-registered Piper Malibu in Europe. There is no publicly available record of UK pilot licences, which are held by the CAA. "Anything that's on the UK licence applies to the US licence as well, so he couldn't do anything more than the UK licence allows. As a private pilot, 59-year-old Mr Ibbotson was not allowed to carry passengers for remuneration or financial reward.

Source: BBC March 30, 2019 02:21 UTC