Crew eject in second RAF Tornado alert

An RAF Tornado crew has ejected as it attempted to land at its Lossiemouth base, two weeks after another jet crashed into the sea.

The RAF has confirmed the two crewmen ejected safely during the incident which happened shortly after 1700 BST.

On 27 January two crew members from RAF Lossiemouth ejected from another Tornado before it crashed into the sea north west of Gairloch.

That crew was forced to crash after the plane caught fire at 6,000ft.

The men involved in the latest incident have been taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. Their condition is not known.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "An incident has occurred involving an aircraft at Lossiemouth.

"The good news is that the crew ejected safely.

"They are in hospital where they are undergoing routine medical checks."

An inquiry into the incident will begin on Friday.

RAF Lossiemouth, on the Moray Firth coast, is home to three squadrons of Tornado GR4s.

The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat attack aircraft, capable of delivering a variety of weapons and reaching a maximum altitude of 50,000ft (15,240m).

In July 2009 a pilot and navigator were killed when their Tornado crashed into a hillside in Argyll.

That aircraft was a RAF Leuchars-based Tornado F3 on a routine flight.