RAF Jets In Near Miss At Lossiemouth

Two RAF fighter jets came within just 300ft (91.4m) of each other near a base in Scotland.

An investigation into the incident between the Typhoon and Tornado jets, which took place in August last year at RAF Lossiemouth, found a collision avoidance system was ineffective because it had not "warmed up".

The aircraft were from separate aircraft formations.

Four Tornado jets had left the RAF station at Lossiemouth at the same time as a formation of four Typhoons was flying close to the base.

As one of the Typhoons turned to the right to avoid the town of Lossiemouth, for noise abatement reasons, it came near to a Tornado which had just taken off.

In determining the cause, the UK Airprox Board said the pilot of the Typhoon had not "integrated effectively" with the other jet.

Investigators "rated" the incident as the second most serious category meaning the safety of the aircraft was not guaranteed.

The RAF has taken action to avoid a repeat, aircraft now veer left to avoid the town to make similar incidents less likely.

The report by the UK Airprox also revealed that a Chinook was involved in a low-risk incident with a drone.

The pilot of the Chinook revealed that the drone passed down the right hand side of the aircraft, between 100 and 200m away. 

An incident was also reported between an RAF Typhoon and a US Air Force F15 Fighter Jet near RAF Marham. 

MORE: "Near Miss" Between Low-Flying Aircraft And Car At RAF Base