A search and recovery operation resumes in the Moray Firth as two Tornado jet crew remain missing after the planes came down off the coast.
One member of air crew has died, two others remain missing and a fourth is in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
The man who died, whose name has not yet been released, was an officer from 15 (Reserve) Squadron, based at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray.
There is "no expectation" of recovering the missing people alive, Group Captain Ian Gale, the station commander at the RAF base, said, after the Tornado GR4s went into the Moray Firth.
The search was called off on Wednesday because of "extremely poor" weather conditions in the area.
Group Captain Gale said Tuesday's incident will be subject to a full investigation.
He said: "The operation will be resumed as a recovery operation as soon as possible, but we must be realistic: given the length of time that has elapsed since the accident, there is no expectation of recovering missing personnel alive.
"The Royal Air Force is in contact with the next of kin of all those involved."
He added: "Clearly, this incident will be subject to full investigation, and a service inquiry will be led by the Military Aviation Authority.
"It is important that we establish the facts of what happened and it is vital that the investigation is allowed to take its course. But the priority now is to ensure that the families of those involved receive the support they need at this most difficult of times."
The RAF ensign at the entrance to the Lossiemouth base was lowered to half-mast and there were no flights in and out of the base on Wednesday.
While the Ministry of Defence continues to investigate the cause of the mid-air collision, the wife of an RAF Lossiemouth serviceman has said defence cuts are to blame.
She told STV: ?Families weren?t told until 5pm on Tuesday whether their relatives were affected by the incident.
?I feel there will be further incidents like this unless action is taken.
?The crews are overworked and understaffed. The staff numbers are so tight it is impossible to be given leave and people are having to come back from holidays to undertake flying hours.
?Last year they went from mission to mission, from Libya to Afghanistan, working 12 hour days.
?Crews on the base had their phones confiscated after the incident so they were not able to contact their loved ones after it happened to tell them they were OK.
?Action has to be taken at the top level of the RAF to prevent something like this happening again.?
Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to the personnel involved in the crash.
He said: "Our thoughts should be with the friends, family and colleagues of those involved.
"The circumstances still remain uncertain but it's clearly a very serious incident.
"The investigation is ongoing and more details will be released by the RAF in due course."
The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat attack aircraft capable of delivering a variety of weapons and reaching a maximum altitude of 50,000ft (15,240m).
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