A military air traffic controller has been sent on "remedial training" after an RAF jet and a passenger plane came within 500 feet of disaster.

The RAF Tornado F3 crossed the bows of the British Regional Airways plane, carrying 12 passengers, at 979mph.

A report into the incident says the military pilot did not see the passenger plane and collision was avoided "more by luck than anything else".

The passenger plane was travelling from Oslo to Newcastle last July when the incident occurred, 53 miles off the North-East coast.

The blame for the incident is being pinned on an RAF controller, who made an error which was almost disastrous.

The controller at RAF Buchan, near Peterhead, in northern Scotland, failed to take account of a manoeuvre the RAF jet needed to do to go supersonic.

As a result, the Tornado passed 1.8 miles in front of the passenger plane but only 500ft above it. At one point, the confused pilot, who was on a training exercise, asked whether the entire manouevre was being called off. As the aircraft closed in on each other he asked: "Affirm, is this a terminate?"

At the speed they were travelling the planes' paths crossed less than ten seconds later.

The incident has been investigated by the UK Airprox Board, a military and civilian panel who investigate near misses.

They found it to be a category B incident - meaning that safety was not assured. Planes are supposed to maintain a minimum 2,000 feet separation.

The Airprox report concludes: "As a result of this regrettable incident the Buchan controller underwent a period of local remedial training. "

Air safety campaigners say the incident shows the need for increased controls over military aircraft, who use the airspace over the North-East for training more than any other part of England.