Homelover
...how would a journalist know...
Ouch!
Without getting into arguments about whether journalists are capable of investigating things that most people may not know about, I’d like to say that I’m happy to be described as one.
But perhaps of more relevance is that I’ve been an air show commentator for more than forty years, a time that started towards the end of my twenty years’ RAF service.
As a commentator, I had researched and observed Andy Hill displaying in various aircraft. I had met him, and discussed his displays with him. I had read about his commendable time on the Harrier force, his time as an aerobatic instructor, and his many airline captaincy hours. I had formed the impression that he was habitually a meticulous preparer for any flight.
However, I would be the first to accept that I don’t know the detailed answers to the questions that you pose, Homelover, about his preparedness on a particular day. But nor would many others, I suggest, perhaps even you? That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t be described as very competent. You and some others differ, clearly.
I do, also, come back to his Old Bailey trial, which I attended for virtually all of its eight weeks. AH was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter not because of smooth barristers, although his defence team was very good. No, he was found not guilty because sufficient believable evidence, much of it to a high technical standard, was produced in court to cast doubt on the prosecution evidence. Whatever, the jury was unanimous, after about seven hours of consideration.
airsound