Timeline: Key moments in the Shoreham Airshow crash investigation

Emergency services on the A27 after the crash Credit: Steve Parsons/PA

A timeline of the Shoreham Airshow crash and developments in the investigations:

  • August 22 2015, 1.22pm – A vintage Hawker Hunter jet flown by pilot Andrew Hill crashes mid-stunt on to the A27 at Shoreham in West Sussex during an airshow, killing 11 men. Hill survives the crash with serious injuries after he was thrown clear from the wreckage. He is taken to hospital and put in an induced coma before being discharged a month later.

  • August 23 – The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Sussex Police all launch probes into the crash.

  • August 24 – The CAA temporarily grounds all Hawker Hunters and limits vintage jets to flypasts during airshows.

  • September 2 – The identities of all 11 victims are officially confirmed as an inquest is opened and adjourned by West Sussex senior coroner Penelope Schofield.

  • November 22 – A memorial service takes place to honour the victims.

  • December 15 – Hill is interviewed by police officers from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team under caution after voluntarily attending a station near his Hertfordshire home but is not arrested.

  • April 14, 2016 – The CAA says it is tightening rules for all show organisers when it publishes its final report in the wake of the crash.

  • July 8 – It emerges police are investigating Hill for manslaughter by gross negligence and endangerment of life under air navigation laws.

  • January 24, 2017 – The CAA agrees to accept all the safety measures made by the AAIB in the wake of the tragedy, meaning stricter safety rules for pilots and organisers, after it initially rejected almost half of the recommendations.

  • March 3 – The AAIB publishes its findings in a 219-page report following one of its longest investigations in recent years. Investigators found the disaster was caused by the pilot flying too slow and too low during a loop manoeuvre.

The crash resulted in the deaths of 11 men. Credit: PA

  • June 20 – The police say the criminal investigation is 95% complete at a pre-inquest hearing.

  • November 1 – Families hit out after their application for exceptional case funding legal aid, which will pay for costs incurred when lawyers represent them at the inquest, was rejected. Prime Minister Theresa May asks the Lord Chancellor David Lidington to intervene.

  • November 30 – The coroner says prosecutors have been provided with a complete case file and are to decide whether criminal charges will be brought.

  • January 24, 2018 – A pre-inquest review is postponed until March 26 to allow prosecutors more time to consider the case file.

  • March 21 – Prosecutors meet victims’ families at police headquarters in Lewes, East Sussex, to inform them of their charging decision. The CPS announces it is charging Hill with manslaughter by gross negligence and endangerment of an aircraft.

Pilot Andrew Hill outside the Old Bailey. Credit: PA

  • May 15 – Hill pleads not guilty to 11 charges of manslaughter by gross negligence and one of recklessly or negligently endangering an aircraft under aviation laws.

  • January 16, 2019 – Hill stands trial at the Old Bailey accused of manslaughter by gross negligence. Prosecutors drop the final charge of endangering an aircraft.

  • March 8, 2019 – The jury deliver their verdict. Hill is cleared.