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July 12, 2016

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Shoreham air crash pilot investigated for manslaughter

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Photo by @keirstanding

Former RAF pilot Andy Hill, whose vintage jet crashed at the Shoreham Airshow, killing 11 people, is being investigated for manslaughter by gross negligence, Sussex Police have said.

Mr Hill survived the crash after the 1959 Hawker Hunter jet he was flying plummeted on to the A27, in August last year. The vintage jet fell during a rolling manoeuvre, destroying a number of vehicles and bursting into flames.

Following the crash Mr Hill was taken to the Royal Sussex County hospital in Brighton and placed in a medically-induced coma. He was later moved to a specialist hospital.

He was interviewed under caution by police in December and is now being investigated for possible manslaughter by gross negligence.

The details emerged in papers filed by Sussex Police in its High Court bid to access evidence.

A Sussex Police spokesman confirmed: “Detectives investigating the circumstances of the crash of a Hunter fighter jet at Shoreham in August 2015, which killed 11 people, have confirmed that a 52-year-old man was notified in December that he is being investigated for possible endangerment pursuant to Article 138 Air Navigation Order 2009 and also manslaughter by gross negligence.”

As part of its inquiry, the force has applied to see material gathered by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) including cockpit recorders from the vintage Hawker Hunter and other footage.

An AAIB report earlier this year coincluded that the airshow’s organisers failed to carry out a proper risk assessment and were unaware of the pilot’s display plans. The report into the incident said that while the flying display director at Shoreham was well qualified, but he was not fully aware of the sequence of display manoeuvres the pilot of the jet was planning to carry out.

He was not, therefore, able to identify where they would take place, or which groups of people would be put at risk.

The investigation continues.

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