A Royal Air Force plane declared an on-board emergency while flying near Loch Ness yesterday.
The Eurofighter Typhoon declared the 7700 distress signal at around 2.30pm after taking off from RAF Lossiemouth.
The jet hit a bird following take-off. There was no danger to craft or crew, a spokesman said.
The 7700 distress code is used to indicate the equivalent of an ‘SOS’ or “Mayday’ distress call and is usually used to alert air traffic control on the ground to a major issue onboard the aircraft or the presence of a serious emergency and the need for immediate assistance.
The £125m Typhoon jets are often scrambled from UK bases to intercept or escort Russian planes which have encroached on to British territory.
It was first reported by military aviation tracking site ‘CivMilAir’ on Twitter.
Their Twitter account wrote: “Royal Air Force Typhoon on an emergency squawk,” sharing a screenshot showing the aircraft was flying at just over 15,000 feet.