Pilot admits to court he had ‘very limited’ experience of flying airshow crash plane

A PILOT has told a court his experience of flying the plane which crashed at the Shoreham Airshow, killing 11 men, was “very limited”.

Andrew Hill made the admission during cross-examination at the Old Bailey yesterday. The 1950s Hawker Hunter fighter jet plunged to the ground and exploded in a fireball on the A27 in West Sussex after Hill attempted a loop on August 22.

The 54-year-old, of Sandon, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, denies 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence.

The court has so far heard Hill had a lengthy career in aviation and was an experienced military, commercial and display pilot who had flown aircrafts including a Jet Provost and a Harrier as well as the Hunter.

When asked about the amount of time he had spent flying the Hunter fighter jet, he replied that it was around 35 hours.

The court heard this was mostly at a handful of displays since 2011.

Asked by prosecutor Tom Kark QC if he accepted his experience in this respect was “relatively limited”, Hill responded, saying in comparison to others it was “very limited”.

Prosecutors previously accused him of breaching rules at other airshows the year before the crash.

Earlier in the day Hill told the court he “embarrassed” himself by flying too close to the crowd at Southport Airshow in 2014.

Jurors heard him describe “one of those nasty, dawning moments” as he realised the display was not going as planned and he was heading towards the crowd line.

Hill was issued with a “stop call” to bring the display to a halt, the court previously heard.

But, giving evidence, he said he had decided to pull out of the display with an escape manoeuvre before he was ordered to by ground controllers.

He said he spoke “briefly” with a Civil Aviation Authority inspector about the incident afterwards and no formal action was taken.

Hill claimed event organisers had been happy with this and allowed him to fly again the next day, but he cut the manoeuvre in question from the display.

The court was told that during the 2014 Shoreham Airshow he flew over Lancing College — which sits next to the A27 — despite this being prohibited.

Hill denied this, saying footage from the cockpit made it look like he got “very close” but from his recollection he had been “nowhere near it”.

Earlier in the day, Hill told the court he had amnesia and can- not remember the crash. Asked by Karim Khalil QC, defending, what he felt knowing the devastation the crash had caused, he said it was a “dominant thought” in his life.

He described it as a “dreadful tragedy” and said he had spent the last three years trying to work out what happened.

Hill claims he had “cognitive impairment” at the time and told medics who came to his rescue that he “blacked out” in the air, the court previously heard.

The trial continues.