'Pilot Took Around Seventy Photos Before Nosedive'

A court martial board has been told an RAF Voyager pilot was taking photographs during a flight that nosedived more than four thousand feet, in just seconds.

The court martial heard Flight Lieutenant Andrew Townshend took approximately 70 photos throughout the flight.

He denies two counts of perjury and making a false record but admits negligently performing his duties.

He has also said he was in 'deep shock and depression' at the idea that he might have been responsible for the incident.

In court today (Friday) RAF pilot Flight Lieutenant Andrew Townshend continued giving evidence to the board of seven military personnel.

On the 9th of February 2014, the Voyager aircraft Flight Lieutenant Townshend was flying nosedived whilst en route to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan with 198 military personnel on board.

The incident was caused by the pilot's DSLR camera becoming jammed under the side-stick of the plane.

Flight Lieutenant Townshend admits negligently performing his duties in relation to his camera causing the incident, but denies two counts of perjury and making a false record.

The RAF pilot is accused of lying in both a technical log and a service inquiry, initially claiming the incident had been caused by a technical fault.

Mr Nigel Lickley QC, for the prosecution, cross-examined the 49-year-old defendant.

He put to the defendant that he had 'deliberately made a selection of images' to give to the service inquiry on the 24th February 2014 - removing the images taken during nighttime, which were found to have been taken up until around 4 minutes prior to the aircraft nosediving.

Flight Lieutenant Townshend said 'I never tried to hide the nighttime photos'. When pushed by Mr Lickley QC, he added 'nothing I'd done was to lie or to try to steer the board of inquiry'.

The images were later found by the defendant on his computer and handed into the service inquiry. 

When asked what he thought once he found these photographs he told the court: 'I was surprised that I could forget events prior to the incident or that my memory was inaccurate.'

The trial continues and the verdict is expected next week.