I thought you were a cinematography expert, not an aviation one! The film of the incident isn't going to tell you whether something in the aircraft failed. It isn't going to tell you whether he was authorised to do that stunt, it isn't going to tell you whether those in charge of the display...
Saw the report on South Today. Wouldn' t describe him as smirking when he walked past the cameras. Sure he'll go down for this but no doubt his pleas were on the advice of counsel.
I'm not going to defend Hill but is that accurate reporting or just your slant on proceedings. Surely at this stage he was merely asked whether he was pleading guilty or not?
Edit. Seen another report where he stated "I’m sorry, for various reasons I don’t know anything about the charges.”...