RAF Pilot 'Utterly Devastated' After Voyager Nosedive

The pilot of an RAF passenger jet which went into a nosedive after his digital camera allegedly caused the autopilot to disengage, has said he was "utterly devastated" when he was told his actions were believed to be responsible for the incident.

Flight Lieutenant Andrew Townshend is accused of lying in both a technical log and service inquiry when he initially claimed the incident had been caused by a technical fault.

The court martial at Bulford heard that the incident took place over the Black Sea during a flight from RAF Brize Norton to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan on February 9th, 2014.

The trial has heard that many of the crew and passengers thought they were going to die when the Voyager aircraft plummeted 4,400ft in a matter of seconds.

The 49-year-old defendant denies two counts of perjury and making a false record but admits negligently performing a duty in relation to the Nikon D5300 DSLR camera colliding with the aircraft's control stick.

Townshend, who has served with the RAF for 30 years and completed 5,500 flying hours, had been using his camera to take photographs of other aircraft from the cockpit and had taken 95 shots that day.

He said that after the flight, he filled in his flight log stating that he believed at the time there had been an issue with the autopilot.

He said:

"My honest belief was that it was some form of technical malfunction with the aircraft."

Townshend said he accepted the result of the investigation which showed the aircraft had pitched down as a result of his camera becoming stuck next to the flight stick.

He said: "I was completely convinced by their forensic evidence, I can think of no other explanation as to the evidence they presented."

He added:

"I was utterly devastated, it was quite possibly the worst day of my life as far as I was concerned, having considered myself a professional pilot for many years.

"The thought something I had done had caused that was utterly, utterly devastating, I was completely distraught."

Townshend said he had not attempted to cover up his responsibility for the action, and added:

"I would absolutely want people to be aware there was a possibility of something like that happening again."

Townshend said that he was aware of the inflight-recording capability of the Airbus aircraft and said it would be "impossible" for him to get away with lying about what had happened.

Townshend said he had been interested in photography since he was 12 years old and had been taking photographs from the cockpit since he began his flight training 27 years earlier.

He said that other pilots took photographs in the cockpits of aircraft and no-one had raised concerns with him over his use of the camera, and added one of his photographs was on display in the squadron headquarters.

He added that he would not use the camera during "busy periods" such as take-off and landings.

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