A DORSET man has been told he is lucky to be alive after the helicopter he was in mistakenly triggered a hijack response from two Typhoon jets.

Racehorse owner Anthony Knott, 47, and his family were travelling home when the helicopter sent a distress signal that sparked the jets’ sonic boom.

Mr Knott, who was told the ex-military aircraft could cope with the interference, said: “It was like being in Top Gun or something.

“All of a sudden this plane came from underneath us. The turbulence sucked us round 30 degrees and the pilot said we were lucky to be alive.”

People in south-west England, Oxfordshire and the West Midlands called emergency services about the sonic boom.

The pilot had transmitted the wrong signal by mistake on Thursday.