An airshow pilot should have been told to pull out of a deadly loop which ended with the deaths of 11 men in a catastrophic fireball, an inquest heard.

The hearing into the deaths at the Shoreham Airshow in 2015 hwas told it would have been obvious to airshow organisers on the ground that the Hawker Hunter plane was in trouble.

Air accident investigators established that the vintage jet was too low and slow going into a loop.

Rodney Dean, Shoreham Airshow flying display director, said: “The committee said they were concerned at the height and lack of noise, lack of power.

“They considered it and their considered view was the pilot did not need any further interaction from the ground.

“We’re talking ten seconds start to finish. The reaction time is quite tight.”

Mr Dean also admitted that it was almost certainly correct to say the 11 victims of the disaster would not have been killed if the airshow committee had told the pilot to stop.

He also told the inquest that anybody with flying experience would have seen the jet was more than 300 feet too low to attempt the loop.

Mr Dean said he did not see the crash or the build up as he was at a meeting.

The inquest in Horsham also heard that a risk assessment carried out by Mr Dean before the airshow was not fit for purpose and was not shared with emergency services, Highways Agency or local authorities.

The Argus: The 11 victims of the Shoreham Airshow disaster in 2015The 11 victims of the Shoreham Airshow disaster in 2015

Witnesses reported seeing a “massive fireball” during the crash on August 22, 2015.

Accounts from six witnesses were read out to the court describing the devastation they saw that day.

They told how they saw the jet hit the A27, where all 11 men died.

The pilot, Andrew Hill, was charged with 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence but found not guilty on all counts in March 2019. He maintains he has no memory of the crash.

The inquest continues.