A soldier left with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when an RAF plane plummeted towards the ground due to a 'bored pilot' has won hundreds of thousands of pounds compensation from the MoD.

The long-serving soldier, who was convinced he was going to die after a terrifying mid-air ordeal in February 2014, has settled his claim against the Ministry of Defence.

Soldier B, who joined the army in 2002, was one of 187 passengers in a RAF Voyager aircraft flying from RAF Brize Norton to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. At 33,000ft, the plane suddenly plummeted towards the ground. Some passengers were pinned to the ceiling due to the force of the descent.

The accident was caused by the Pilot’s personal camera which he had brought on board and which became jammed in flight-deck equipment.

But after Flt Lt Andrew Townshend regained control of the aircraft, he allegedly lied in both a technical log and service inquiry and insisted the incident had been caused by a technical fault.