THE lawyer representing those injured in the Shoreham Airshow disaster said a new incident being looked into by detectives could be a significant step.

On Tuesday it emerged that detectives investigating the Shoreham case are looking at a flight at Southport Air Show in 2014, when Andy Hill's plane was deemed to be flying too low.

Jim Morris, from Irwin Mitchell lawyers, said survivors were shocked and concerned by the new information on Mr Hill, who was flying the Hawker Hunter that smashed into the A27 on August 22, killing eleven men.

An initial report found the Hunter started its loop manoeuvre at the Shoreham Airshow lower than Mr Hill's license allowed.

Mr Morris said: "We don't know if there is any similarity to what has happened in Shoreham because we don't have a final report yet [on Shoreham].

"We don't know whether that was caused by the way he flew the aircraft or anything else.

"It would be hugely relevant if there is a similarity between what happened in 2014 and what happened in 2015."

He added authorities needed to look in detail about what happened after the Southport incident in terms of any corrective measures taken with the pilot.

Yesterday David Walton, the flight display director at Southport, told The Argus the pilot was debriefed after the incident, agreeing to amend his display for the next day.

He added the Civil Aviation Authority regulator had an inspector at the show who was briefed on what was going on, but no other reporting action was taken or required.

Meanwhile an experienced display pilot told The Argus yesterday that the incident involving Mr Hill's Jet Provost at Southport appeared to have been due to a mistake.

He added: "I think he probably made a slight error when he was flying and like all these things when you are display flying there is a little margin of error and you don’t have much height below you, so any error you make is magnified.

"The weather was a bit hazy and pilots use a visual horizon; perhaps he misjudged the horizon."

Yesterday police added the enquiry was "complex" and there were "a number of lines of enquiry".