A PASSENGER plane was seconds from disaster when it narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with two military jets.

The Eastern Airways JS41 aircraft was forced to climb rapidly to avoid two Harrier jump jets.

About 15 passengers, mostly businessmen, were making the short trip between Durham Tees Valley Airport and Aberdeen when the incident took place over the Northumberland coast at 10.20am on Tuesday, February 1.

The details of the incident have only just been released.

The pilots, who were cruising at 16,500ft at 300mph, were forced to avoid a crash by climbing 600ft.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has ordered an inquiry. It is the 20th serious near-misses in the North-East since 1998.

In 1998, an RAF Harrier missed a civilian helicopter at Corbridge, Northumberland, by less than 100ft, and in 2002, the RAF was criticised when a fighter jet came within 100ft of a passenger plane.

Councillor Peter Hillman, who represents Northumberland on an inter-authority low flying working group, called for urgent action.

He said: "This is becoming far too frequent for my liking and it is high time that something was done about this.

"We have to tackle this as a matter of urgency before something disastrous happens."

Chris Holiday, of Eastern Airways, said: "The pilot climbed about 500 or 600ft after the aircraft's warning system detected near-flying planes."

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said the RAF would implement any of the recommendations made by the CAA.

She said: "We are aware of an incident in that proximity and we will take any necessary action which comes from the official report."