Andrew Hill was nicknamed 'The Prof' due to his flying skills
Shoreham air crash pilot Andrew Hill once simulated an out-of-control plane for an episode of ITV drama Midsomer Murders.
Hill flew his home-built plane for the daytime show, pretending the plane was in a dive as a fictional air traffic controller warned the fictional pilot: 'You are headed for the crowds.'
He and his wife Ellen, also a pilot, had built their own plane from a kit, and flew it in air shows.
Friends say that in first year after the Shoreham crash he was 'in a very dark place.'
'He knew had no right to survive that accident himself - and had caused the deaths of all those people.' said one.
Hill, now 54, is a Cambridge graduate who was top of the class in the RAF, winning competitions for his flying and being given the military nickname 'The Prof'.
A captain with British Airways until the tragedy, he grew up in Kent and went to Tonbridge School, a private boarding school that counts Norman Heatley - who turned penicillin into usable medicine - among its alumni.
Mr Hill and his wife Ellie, who were both BA pilots, built their own plane from a kit (not pictured)
Speaking outside court today, Hill said he was 'truly sorry' for the men's deaths and that they would stay with him for the rest of his life
Telling the court he was 'reasonably academic' and an A-grade pupil at school, Hill was allowed to enrol at Cambridge University without taking the entrance exam, attending Christ's College.
He began studying engineering and then transferred to computer science, graduating with an honours degree in 1985.
Going straight into the RAF afterwards, he won a competition when flying a Jet Provost and was a top performing student.
Quickly showing his rare ability while training on the Hawk T1 jet, he was selected – or ‘creamed off’ – to be an instructor. He won an RAF competition and became the RAF Linton-on-Ouse display pilot before he was selected to fly Harriers – one of the most difficult jets to master because of their vertical take off and landing capability.
Bob Marston, a former Harrier instructor and RAF pilot for more than 40 years, said: ‘The Harrier Force was the top of the pile – that’s where the best guys went.’
Hill was fiercely proud of his RAF record flying record after working as an instructor and seeing active service in Iraq
Training in combat, he took part in active service for a month in the 1990s, monitoring no-fly zones in northern Iraq.
He also started to fly a Harrier - capable of vertical take-off and landing - and won an award for his work and ideas on improving aircraft safety procedures.
It was also in the RAF that he was given the nickname ‘The Prof’ – because of his background in computers – which would stick with him for the rest of his career.
Mr Hill displayed plenty of bravery as well as skill. His missions included policing no-fly zones over northern Iraq to protect Kurds from Saddam Hussein’s forces after the First Gulf War.
But Mr Hill’s expertise in computing – which has also seen him dubbed ‘nerdy’ by his peers – continued to set him apart from most of his fellow pilots.
He designed a software package that allowed BA pilots to automatically book their desired shifts. Years earlier he had developed a digital version of the Harrier’s operating manual that was cleared for use by
