An RAF Tornado jet narrowly avoided a collision with a light aircraft in the skies above Angus after flying within 200ft of it.

The crew have been commended for averting a collision after spotting the small Piper Cherokee plane above the Newtyle area on September 22 last year.

Concerns were raised about the use of a VHF common frequency, however, which is being trialled for all pilots in Scotland.

At the time of the near-miss, the military pilots were using the channel but the civilian pilot was not, prompting investigators to note: "Although military crews were all aware of the frequency, there was some concern that it wasn't being used effectively by civilian pilots."

A report from the UK Airprox Board, which monitors incidents in UK air space, says the Tornado crew were on a low-level sortie heading for Leuchars, Fife.

While carrying out a simulated bird strike recovery manoeuvre the student pilot saw the other aircraft and took action to avoid it.

The report stated: "Two-way contact had not yet been established with Leuchars so the instructor told the student to call Leuchars as a matter of priority to establish a traffic service.

"They did this and Leuchars informed them of the traffic, which was now behind them.

"At the time they didn't consider it to be an Airprox and so didn't report it on frequency but, after subsequent discussion on the ground, they decided to report it.

"The pilot made two observations, firstly that had the Tornado been fitted with TCAS (Traffic Alert and Avoidance Collision System), the crew would have received in-cockpit warnings about the traffic which may have allowed them to avoid it by a greater distance, and secondly, below 1000ft in that area it is rarely possible to obtain two-way communications with Leuchars due to the terrain.

"He perceived the severity of the incident as medium."

The pilot of the light aircraft, which is referred to in the report as PA28, did not see the Tornado at any point and was unaware of the close shave until being told about it at a later stage.

The report states: "Ultimately, the Tornado pilot saw the PA28 in sufficient time to take action to increase separation, albeit that separation was considered by the Tornado crew to be less than they would ideally have liked to achieve."

It adds: "Board commended the Tornado crew for doing all that they could at the time to assist in collision avoidance.

"They were too low to receive a traffic service from ATC (although they did arrange one as soon as they climbed into radar cover), had checked in with local airfields, and were listening out and making information calls on the VHF common frequency currently being trialled in Scotland.

"It was unfortunate that the PA28 pilot wasn’t also on the VHF common frequency, and the board weren't sure whether this was through lack of knowledge or because the PA28 pilot preferred to speak to an ATC unit."