'I don't know what I did': Shoreham pilot breaks silence over fatal crash

Andrew Hill speaks publicly for the first time while giving evidence at his trial at the Old Bailey

The pilot whose plane crashed during the Shoreham Airshow, killing 11 people, has told jurors he has no memory of the incident.

Andrew Hill was flying the 1950s Hawker Hunter fighter jet which plunged to the ground and exploded in a fireball on the A27 while it was performing a loop-the-loop stunt on 22 August 2015 at an air show.

Speaking for the first time in public about the crash as he gave evidence at his trial at the Old Bailey, Mr Hill said he no memory of the events between 19 August and the moment he woke from an induced coma in hospital the following month.

He said: "I can only recall what preparation I did up until the 19th."

Asked by Karim Khalil QC, defending, if he had any memory of taking off on the day of the crash, or any part of the display, he replied: "None at all."

Mr Hill said: "Probably most of the last three years have been spent trying on earth to resolve what happened."

Asked if this had been easy, he replied: "No, because it caused a dreadful tragedy to a lot of people.

"I was the pilot, I was in charge of the aircraft."

Mr Hill has claimed that he had "cognitive impairment" at the time of the crash and told medics who came to his rescue that he "blacked out" in the air, the court previously heard.

He had passed medical checks before the crash and tests carried out after the incident 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.

Mr Hill was thrown clear from the burning plane and survived despite several serious injuries.

Mr Khalil told the court Mr Hill had been advised not to watch the last moments of footage of the flight - which show the crash - because of "concerns of what it may trigger" for him.

Mr Hill said: "I don't know what I did. I know what the aircraft did."

He temporarily left the witness box to walk into the centre of the court, demonstrating his plan for the display using a model of the aircraft and moving around the room in front of the jury.

Asked if it would have been possible for "someone of clear mind" to adjust the flight path during the display, he agreed, adding: "More than one opportunity."

He said that from what he had seen, the flight path of the aircraft made "no sense" and he "could not understand it".

The 54-year-old from Hertfordshire denies 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by agencies