A plane carrying passengers to Belfast was involved in a near miss with two military jets over Scotland last October, according to a report published today.
The incident, over Burrow Head, near the Solway Firth in Scotland, on October 27 last year, involved two British Hawk jets and a Dash 8 passenger plane flying from Newcastle to Belfast.
The crew of one of the Hawks reported the Dash 8 flying towards them about 200ft-300ft above.
There was insufficient time to take avoiding action and the Dash 8 overflew the Hawks in an incident in which there was a "high" risk of a collision, the report from the UK Airprox (aircraft proximity) Board said.
The report added: "The Hawk pilots' unit comments that this was a deeply disturbing incident."
The report said the cause of the incident was the non-sighting of the Hawks by the Dash 8 pilots "and, effectively, a non-sighting by the Hawk leader".
The case was the only one of the year in which a passenger plane was deemed to have been in a category A near-miss.
Category A cases are those in which an actual risk of collision existed. The other risk-bearing category is category B in which the safety of the aircraft involved was compromised.