Investigators believe pilot error caused German Eurofighter crash -Spiegel

Investigators looking into the crash this week of two German air force Eurofighter warplanes have ruled out mechanical failure, making a pilot error the most likely cause, Der Spiegel reported. The mid-air collision over north-east Germany, in which one pilot died, occurred during a training exercise. It was the first major accident to hit Germany's 140-strong fleet of Eurofighters.

The defence ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Investigators had cleared the rest of the fleet - built by a consortium of Airbus, BAE and Leonardo - to carry on flying, the news magazine said, without citing a source.

Among the possibilities that investigators are considering are that one of the pilots failed to see the other during the high-risk pursuit drill or that positioning messages were misheard over the radio, it said.