Shoreham crash pilot: I was in total control of jet
THE pilot whose plane crashed during the Shoreham air show denied having a “cavalier” attitude to flying as he spoke for the first time about the tragedy.
Andrew Hill was flying the Fiftiesera Hawker Hunter fighter jet when it crashed on the A27 in West Sussex on Aug 22 2015, after a failed attempt to perform a “bent loop”.
The 54-year-old, of Sandon, Buntingford, Herts, denies 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Prosecutors previously told the court the crash was due to “pilot error”, and although Mr Hill was normally considered “careful and competent”, he had taken “risks” in the past.
Giving evidence, the pilot told the Old Bailey his current state of health was good and he denied the suggestion that he was a “cavalier” pilot.
“I would say I was probably one of the least people that applied to, in the sense that there are ways to be cavalier and some people are, some people are not,” he said.
“I believe I took a very structured, disciplined approach to it [display flying].”
Mr Hill told the jury that he sometimes held back from flights he was not comfortable with, saying: “We have our strengths and weaknesses.”
He added that he did not intend to cause risk to anybody. “It was the primary aim of the display to avoid risk,” he said.
Mr Hill said he had no concerns about the manner in which he was flying, adding: “I was in total control.”
He said he believed he was “known” for his planning and preparation before displays, which included drawing his routines in diagrams before walking through the manoeuvres.
The jury was shown footage from another air show at Shannon Airport, Co Clare, Ireland, just over a month before the crash, in which Mr Hill carried out the same loop stunt in the same aircraft without issue.
The court also previously heard of three incidents in 2014, a year before the crash, when there were concerns over Mr Hill’s flying, according to the prosecution. However, some witnesses described him as “safety conscious” and an “absolute gentleman”.
During a practice display for the Duxford air show in Cambridgeshire, Mr Hill flew over the crowd line, prosecutors said. The jury was also told he twice flew over the M11 much lower than permitted – but this assertion was later withdrawn.
Tom Kark QC, prosecuting, said Mr Hill had flown over the Duxford museum – which was regarded as a “serious infringement”.
Describing himself in court as an Agrade student, Mr Hill grew up in Kent, where he attended Tonbridge School.
Telling the court he was “reasonably academic”, he was then able to enrol at the University of Cambridge without taking the entrance exam and studied at Christ’s College. He began studying engineering and then transferred to computer science, graduating with an honours degree in 1985.
Mr Hill claims to have experienced “cognitive impairment” shortly before the crash and does not remember what happened.
He was thrown from the plane and told medics he “blacked out in the air” after he was found with blood on his face, lying in undergrowth beside the cockpit.
The trained Royal Air Force instructor, who was a British Airways captain at the time, was taken to hospital with serious injuries and placed in an induced coma.
Mr Hill passed medical checks before the crash and tests and scans carried out afterwards did not show any sign of a medical condition – including cognitive impairment – which may have affected his health leading up to the crash, the court heard.
The trial continues.