US authorities probing passenger jet’s close call with B-52 bomber over North Dakota
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Delta Flight 3788, operated by SkyWest, took off from Minneapolis and was approaching the city of Minot when the incident happened.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – US aviation regulators said on July 21 they are investigating a recent close call in which a passenger plane took emergency action to avoid a mid-air collision with a US military bomber.
Delta Flight 3788, operated by SkyWest, took off from Minneapolis on July 18 and was approaching the city of Minot when the pilot rapidly rerouted after seeing another aircraft nearing from the right.
“I don’t know how fast they were going, but they were a lot faster than us, I felt it was the safest thing to do to turn behind it,” the pilot told passengers.
“Sorry about the aggressive manoeuvre. It caught me by surprise, this is not normal at all.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that US officials are investigating the event involving Flight 3788 at Minot International Airport.
SkyWest said it has also begun a probe. The flight was cleared for approach by the tower “but performed a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight path,” the carrier said in a statement reported by US media.
The US Air Force did not provide specifics about the near miss but confirmed in a statement reported by The Washington Post that a B-52 bomber was performing a flyover at the North Dakota State Fair, which occurred in Minot.
The northern city, about 80km from the Canada border, is home to a commercial airport and a US Air Force base.
In the video, posted to Instagram and verified by Storyful, the SkyWest pilot told passengers that “nobody told us” about the other plane.
He said the Minot tower, which does not use radar – a common situation in smaller, more remote airfields in the US – offered guidance that could have put the passenger jet in jeopardy.
“He said ‘Turn right’. I said there’s an airplane over there. And he says ‘Turn left’,” the pilot said according to the video.
The incident comes less than six months after a US Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet
The disaster prompted the federal authorities and Congress to review coordination between military and civilian aircraft flying in the same airspace. AFP
