THE RAF yesterday admitted failings over a pilot who crashed during a training session, killing a teenage passenger.

A probe found air force chiefs had not followed up concerns that Abingdon Flight Lieutenant Mike Blee could not fully move his head. They said this contributed to the deaths.

Flt Lieut Blee, 62, was making an aerobatic manoeuvre on June 14 last year when his Grob Tutor plane collided with a glider, killing him and 15-year-old Reading cadet Nicholas Langley-Rice.

The glider parachuted to safety from 4,100ft above Drayton. The plane, which took off from RAF Benson, crashed 24 seconds after impact.

A RAF report into the tragedy found that the pilot, who was teaching Air Training Corps cadets, was suffering from ankylosing spondylitis – a condition which fused his neck vertebrae limiting the use of his upper spine by about 50 per cent It also found training and communication problems were other factors in the crash. It emerged other pilots had questioned Flt Lieut Blee’s fitness to fly. RAF bosses have apologised to the families.

Air Vice Marshal Barry North wrote in the RAF’s report into the accident: “It is obvious that the tutor pilot did not see the glider in time to avoid a collision.

“I believe that the tutor pilot’s medical condition was the significant factor in preventing him from doing so.

“While there were procedures and processes in place to address appropriate medical fitness and flying competence, I do not consider that these procedures were effective in this case.”

AVM North’s report said: “It is a matter of profound regret that the opportunities that were presented were not seized upon by relevant individuals as a way of rigorously examining the tutor pilot’s continued fitness to fly.”

He said a 2005 test proved positive – but there were “several pilots who questioned his ability to lookout” of all windows.

The inquiry team said supervision was “not sufficiently robust” and there was a “reluctance to question the tutor pilot’s medical fitness”.

AVM North said it was unacceptable that the RAF did not manage his condition because he had retired in 2005, instead deferring it to his GP.

He said: “I believe strongly that we have a responsibility for understanding the health of all pilots that fly our aircraft, no matter what their status.”

If the RAF is not aware of pilots’ medical status then “he should not be flying service aircraft”, he added.

The plane suffered minor damage and could have landed.

Flt Lieut Blee did not receive two warnings that he was in busy airspace and this contributed to the accident, the probe found.

It found a lack of communication between the base the glider launched from, in Lasham, Hampshire, and the RAF base was also a contributory factor to the accident.

Flt Lieut Blee could have been “incapacitated” by the collision, it found, which would have been an aggravating factor.

He flew for AEF Air Experience Flight, the training unit of the RAF Volunteer Reserve (Training Branch), and joined the RAF in 1964.

A separate probe, by the indpendent Air Accidents Investigation Branch, said the medical condition and the density of traffic were contributory factors.

Air Vice Marshal Mark Green, Air Officer Commanding of 22 Training Group, said yesterday: “We have apologised to the families for shortcomings in our supervisory processes which may have contributed to this sad outcome.

“We have taken extensive action to ensure that Air Experience Flying for cadets remains safe.”

It had put 12 out of 18 recommendations from the probe into place, he said.

Flt Lieut’s Blee’s family was not available for comment last night.