THE PILOT of the vintage jet that crashed during the Shoreham Airshow is physically "on the mend" but mentally has a "long road ahead", a friend has said.

Andrew Hill is set to be questioned by police and investigators over the disaster when his Hawker Hunter smashed into the A27, killing eleven people, after failing to pull out of a loop stunt.

The 51-year-old was taken to hospital after the crash on August 22 and put into a medically induced coma.

But he is now understood to have been released from a specialist hospital to his home in Hertfordshire.

Display pilot Neil McCarthy, a friend of Mr Hill’s, said: “Generally at an airshow you don’t survive something like that, so the fact that he has survived and has been discharged from hospital, it is fantastic news.

“So physically he is on the mend but mentally of course there is a long road ahead.

“As a display pilot what happened is the worst thing possibly imaginable. It is unthinkable, to be honest. You just never imagine it is going to happen these days, it is so highly regulated.

“My ultimate concern is for all of the families [of the victims]. The pilots run the risk, they know what they are doing.”

Mr McCarthy added while it was too soon to know the cause of the crash, it was already having repercussions among display pilots.

He said: “The feedback that I am picking up is that pilots are considering, is it worth them spending their weekends risking doing this stuff?"

Sussex Police has confirmed the pilot's condition is improving.

A spokesman said: "Police and investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), who are conducting parallel investigations, are looking to interview the pilot as soon as possible.”

An interim report released by the AAIB found “no abnormal indications" during the Hawker Hunter’s flight, adding that cockpit cameras showed the 1950s jet "appeared to be responding to the pilot's control inputs”.

All of those killed in the disaster were men from Sussex, who were either driving along the A27 or had stopped to watch the airshow from the side of the road.

Inquests have been opened and adjourned.