Routine flight for Tornado

Tornado exercises have "little margin for error"

The Tornado is described by the Ministry of Defence as the "world leader" in day and night reconnaissance.

It has a top speed of 1,452 mph and is equipped with laser-guided precision missiles.

The GR4, which came into service in 1989, has a good safety record and the latest crash in Humberside is likely to be human error - or even a collision with a bird, an expert told BBC News Online.

It is the first Tornado to come down over the British Isles since 1999.

It is unusual to get a technical problem with the plane causing it to crash

Nick Cook, aerospace consultant

Like similar accidents involving Tornados, the two crew members managed to eject before the plane crashed into the River Humber.

The plane was on a routine flight from RAF Marham in Norfolk.

Nick Cook, an aerospace consultant to Jane's Defence Weekly, told BBC News Online, the type of Tornado involved was used extensively in the Gulf War.

"These type of planes do crash from time to time because their missions are to fly at low level, about 250 feet, which is extremely demanding.

"There is little margin for error.

Dogfight defence

"It is unusual to get a technical problem with the plane causing it to crash.

"More often than not, it will be some kind of human error or natural reason such as a bird strike."

Tornados have not seen action during the recent conflict in Afghanistan but were used to enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq in 1998.

They are capable of dropping up to 18,000lb of ordnance and are also equipped with two cannons.

Two crew members - a pilot and a navigator - sit in tandem in the 16.7-metre fuselage.