Soldier wins damages for trauma caused by air plunge

A SOLDIER left with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when an RAF plane plummeted towards the ground due to a “bored pilot” has won hundreds of thousands of pounds compensation from the Ministry of Defence.

Soldier B, who joined the army in 2002, was one of 187 passengers in a RAF Voyager aircraft flying from RAF Brize Norton to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in February 2014. At 33,000ft, the plane suddenly plummeted towards the ground.

Some passengers were pinned to the ceiling due to the force of the descent.

The accident was caused by the pilot’s personal camera which he had brought on board and which became jammed in flight-deck equipment, disengaging the autopilot and causing the plane to nosedive.

A court martial in 2017 heard Flt Lt Andrew Townshend was bored while flying from the UK to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan and was “practising longexposure photography when his copilot left the cockpit to get a cup of tea”.

A spokesman for Soldier B’s legal team said: “Our client was convinced he was going to die … He suffered serious psychological injuries amounting to post traumatic stress disorder, a depressive episode, a phobic anxiety disorder and a specific anxiety disorder. Despite prolonged treatment he continues to suffer ongoing anxiety.”

An MOD spokesman said: “We carefully consider all claims and pay compensation where we have a legal obligation to do so.”