One of the more shocking claims in Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, has been rubbished by a first-hand witness who claims it has been "dramatised for effect".
In the book, Harry details a "suicide" training flight, claiming that an army instructor stalled their Slingsby T67 Firefly propeller plane on purpose without alerting anyone. However, Major Michael Booley, who is an ex-Sergeant and was there at the time of the supposed incident, has said this did not happen.
He also added that every detail of these flights is laid out beforehand. He told the Sunday Mirror: "I am staggered by this. In shock even," before providing a clearer explanation of what happened.
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In Spare, Harry writes: "On one of our first flights together, with no warning, Booley threw the aircraft into a stall.
"I felt the left wing dip, a sickening feeling of disorder, of entropy, and then, after several seconds that felt like decades, he recovered the aircraft and levelled the wings.
"I stared at him. What in the absolute—? Was this an aborted suicide attempt?’ No, he said gently. This was the next stage in my training."
Michael has hit back at this claim, saying: "Whilst the book compliments me, the recollection of the sorties and lessons is inaccurate, I’m afraid. It’s important to highlight that nothing in the cockpit comes as a surprise.
"Every sortie is thoroughly briefed beforehand, every single aspect.
"The sortie is flown exactly as per that brief. The only time there are surprises is later in the syllabus, not as stated in the book, when emergencies are introduced.
"Engine failures are practised before the first solo obviously, in case the student suffers one."
The 57-year-old served in the Army for over three decades, and taught the Duke how to pilot the Firefly back in 2009. And while Michael states he still holds the "utmost respect" for Harry, he has questioned certain parts of the memoir - which was ghostwritten by author John Joseph Moehringer.
Michael claims that he never called Harry Lt Wales, as the memoir claims. He added: "I think the reference to the flying sorties has been dramatised. I think it’s a result of the ghost writing. I never called him Lt Wales, he was an officer, and I called him Sir."
In spite of these alleged claims, Michael has shown he has a lot of respect for the prince and spoke about a time the pair enjoyed a Sunday lunch together. However, Michael is not the only qualified expert that has questioned the content of Spare.
A former Apache instructor told the Mirror : "All training sorties are briefed to the nth degree so the student is fully aware of what the plan is. In the air is not the time to try and brief somebody on what the plan is.
"The briefing will take place on the ground in front of a blackboard. I can only assume the book was written like this for dramatic effect because it’s wrong and no instructor would behave like this."
The prince also claimed to have killed 25 Taliban members during his time in Afghanistan, leading to him being widely criticised for exposing fellow veterans and his family to potential danger.
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