THE HAWKER Hunter's final take-off before it crashed looked unusual, an aviation expert has said.

Dr Stephen Wright, an aviation lecturer at the University of Leeds, questioned if the jet had taken off at a lower power when he viewed footage sent to The Argus.

Dr Wright, who was born in Uckfield and used to work for British Airways, said: "It's really difficult to say what happened.

"Looking at the video the aircraft take-off looks different. Obviously the plane did not fly in the way it should have done. No-one is going to know the answer until the investigation is complete."

He suggested noise abatement starting procedures may have been in place for the flight so as not to disturb residents with the loud noise.

He said: "Military planes make a heck of a lot of noise. Looking at this I would be mindful of if there is a rule or regulation requiring the aircraft to take-off in a certain manner with a reduced power. That needs to be looked into."

He added: "Pilots generally err on the side of caution. They would not be going to do a display if there are problems. They would be on the radio or the mobile phone. He was a BA captain, he was experienced. We have an extremely safe aviation system in this country and there should not be a knee jerk reaction."

His comments came as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) restricted the flights of vintage aircraft at future airshows, which he said was a "sound" and "logical" move.

Erol Huseyin, 27, of North London, recorded the video of the jet taxiing and taking off at North-Weald Airfield, in Essex.

He said: "It seemed to take a long time to get ready to get going and then it didn’t go as fast as I thought it would have.

“I have seen a number of jets take off from that airfield and they are usually up in the air by the time they are halfway down the runway. This time it took the whole of the runway.

“As soon as I heard about the crash on the news I knew it was that plane. It was all very strange.”