AN RAF pilot whose Harrier jump jet nosedived into a field near Staindrop may have become disorientated.

Gp Capt David Haward was pulling up from a mock bombing raid and barrel-rolled the plane to try to emerge underneath clouds.

Instead, the jet flew straight into the ground - giving the pilot just 2.6 seconds to act.

Pilots in two other aircraft taking part heard Gp Capt Haward say he was trying to pull out of the dive a split second before impact.

An inquest last Friday recorded a verdict of accidental death on Gp Capt Haward, a father of two, who had been recently promoted to station commander. The accident happened on December 18, 1998.

Mr Michael Littlefair, of West Farm, Staindrop, told the inquest at Bishop Auckland that when he saw the formation of three RAF jets flying over a hill behind, he thought nothing of it as it was a daily occurrence in the area.

"It just carried on flying at the same height and a second later it flew behind a tree," he said.

"The next time I picked the plane up it was heading straight into the ground. I saw the explosion."

A Ministry of Defence accident report stated that the station commander, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, had flown into a position from which there was "no possible recovery".

The report went on to say that distraction or disorientation may have been factors and he may also have been hampered by the weather and clouds. An exact cause could not be given because the black box recorder had been damaged by the impact of the crash and recovery of the wreckage was made difficult with the steep craters on either side of the plane.

South Durham and Darlington coroner, Mr Colin Penna, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Speaking after the inquest, an RAF spokesman said that, after the accident, procedure was reviewed and pilots were now advised to climb above cloud if they got into difficulty.

He said: "As far as we are concerned, it was a tragic accident that happened and procedures and rules have been reviewed as with any other accident. We've tried to learn from what happened to try to prevent it happening again in the future."

The £17m, 600mph, Harrier jet has a good safety record despite only having one jet engine rather than two, as used in the Tornado and the new Eurofighter Typhoon