An RAF jet came within 100 feet of a passenger aircraft in a near-miss just revealed in an official report.

Neither pilot saw the other approaching in uncontrolled airspace 26 miles north of Newcastle airport.

The pilot of a flight carrying 11 passengers from Aberdeen to Newcastle was given air traffic control advice but could not take action because of the speed and "unpredictable manoeuvres" of the Tornado.

He "almost immediately transmitted an expletive" said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report released on Tuesday.

Night-training exercise

The two-man crew from RAF Leuchars in St Andrews, Scotland, was unaware of the potential tragedy until the passenger plane had passed.

The Tornado had been one of up to 32 fast jets taking part in a night-training exercise on 20 March last year.

It came within 100 feet vertically and 300 feet horizontally of the Gill Airways' Shorts SD360 aircraft at 5,000 feet.

The two planes were in uncontrolled airspace in which pilots are responsible for avoiding other aircraft on a "see-and-be-seen" basis.

Safety investigation

There were 87 reported near misses involving military aircraft and commercial flights in uncontrolled airspace below 10,000 feet between January 1990 and March 2000, according to UK Airprox Board statistics.

Four were category A, meaning there was a real risk of collision.

An Airprox report has not yet been released on the Newcastle near-miss.

The Civil Aviation Authority said the issue of safety within uncontrolled airspace would be looked at following a recommendation from the AAIB.