Shoreham crash pilot ‘a known risk-taker’
Andrew Hill ‘liked to push limits’ and nearly lost his licence after previous incident, Old Bailey told
The pilot whose plane crashed during the Shoreham air show, killing 11 people, was “a risk taker” who nearly had his licence taken off him for a dangerous manoeuvre at an event a year earlier, a court has heard. Andrew Hill, 54, of Sandon, Hertfordshire, denies 11 counts of gross negligence manslaughter for the fatal incident in August 2015. He was described in court as having played “fast and loose with the safety of those below his aircraft”. The Old Bailey trial continues.
THE PILOT whose plane crashed during the Shoreham air show, killing 11 people, was “a risk taker” who nearly had his licence taken off him for a dangerous manoeuvre at an event a year earlier, a court has heard.
Andrew Hill, 54, of Sandon, Hertfordshire, denies 11 counts of gross negligence manslaughter for the fatal incident in August 2015. He was described in court as having played “fast and loose with the safety of those below his aircraft”.
At the opening of the Old Bailey trial, Tom Kark QC, prosecuting, said: “Until the moment that it crashed, there was nothing wrong with the flying capabilities” of the Fifties Hawker Hunter fighter jet. “The crash happened purely because of pilot error.”
Mr Hill did not watch the television monitors as the jury were played three different videos of the failed “loop” manoeuvre and the ensuing crash. On one video, an event announcer describes the soaring vintage plane as “almost without limitations”. Moments later it was engulfed in a fireball on the A27 dual carriageway.
The court heard how the jet plummeted onto the West Sussex road while it was performing a loop stunt at 1.22pm on Aug 22 2015.
“The Hunter crashed because Mr Hill had not reached a safe gate height,” said Mr Kark. “He was quite simply too low at the top of the loop. He was both too low and too slow to complete the manoeuvre safely.”
Mr Hill, a trained Royal Air Force instructor who was a British Airways captain at the time of the crash, was thrown clear of the aircraft but taken to hospital with serious injuries and placed in an induced coma.
All of the 11 people who died were men. Mr Kark said: “Some were in cars travelling on that road, or just crossing on foot. The majority of those who died were not even there to watch the show.”
One victim, 76-year-old Maurice Abrahams, from Brighton, worked as a chauffeur and was in his Daimler en route to pick up a bride for her wedding. His car was knocked clear over to the other side of the road in flames.
The other 10 men who died were: retired engineer James Mallinson, 72, from Newick, near Lewes; window cleaner and builder Mark Trussler, 54, from Worthing; cycling friends Dylan Archer, 42, from Brighton, and Richard Smith, 26, from Hove; NHS manager Tony Brightwell, 53, from Hove; grandfather Mark Reeves, 53, from Seaford; Worthing United footballers Matthew Grimstone and Jacob Schilt, both 23; personal trainer Matt Jones, 24; and Daniele Polito, 23, from Worthing.
The prosecution outlined a history of incidents in the year before the fatal crash, which they say “demonstrate poor decision-making and risk-taking” by Mr Hill, and “represent examples of a more cavalier attitude to safety than was appropriate”.
In one instance, the Civil Aviation Authority discussed suspending Mr
‘The majority of those who died were not even there to watch the show’
Hill’s display authorisation, but opted to place him on a watch-list of pilots who needed to be inspected.
In a practice display at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, in 2014, Mr Hill overflew what would have been a crowd line had spectators been there, and also crossed the M11 motorway at just 200ft. The minimum height he should have flown over the busy carriageway was 500ft. Mr Hill was warned of his actions by the control tower.
At the 2014 Shoreham air show, Mr Hill flew over the nearby Lancing College, contravening the rules on flying over any assembly of persons.
Later in 2014, at the Southport air show, Mr Hill sped towards the crowd in a Jet Provost at between 75ft and 100ft off the ground as he attempted a “Derry turn”. The minimum display height for the aircraft was 200ft.
The jury is expected to be shown camera footage from inside the cockpit that survived the crash.
The case continues.