Air traffic controllers at a North Dakota airport didn’t tell the crew of an Air Force B-52 bomber that a commercial airliner was flying in the same area, causing a near miss between the planes, according to the military.
In a statement released Monday evening, the Air Force said the B-52 crew told Minot International Airport’s air traffic control that the bomber was nearing the area where a SkyWest Airlines pilot was approaching to land the evening of July 18.
“The tower did not advise of the inbound commercial aircraft,” the Air Force said.
The pilot of the passenger jet Flight 3788, which departed from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, was forced to veer sharply to avoid the B-52, startling passengers, though both planes landed safely. A passenger aboard the commercial flight captured a video of the pilot’s explanation over the intercom of what had occurred, during which he said he had to make an “aggressive maneuver” to turn after spotting the bomber in his flight path.
“Sorry about the aggressive maneuver. It caught me by surprise,” the pilot said. “This is not normal at all. I don’t know why they didn’t give us a heads up.”
SkyWest is owned by Delta Air Lines.
The Air Force explained that the bomber, from Minot Air Force Base, had been conducting a flyover at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot that was “planned in advance” and “approved by the Federal Aviation Administration” the Minot International Airport air traffic control and the military base’s air traffic control team.
Ahead of the flyover, the B-52 crew contacted its base air traffic control team as well as that of the Minot International Airport’s air traffic control tower. At 7:40 p.m. the bomber crew told the base they were departing their holding point for the fairgrounds. Three minutes later the base directed the crew to contact the airport’s air traffic control.
“The B-52 crew contacted Minot International Airport tower and the tower provided instructions to continue 2 miles westbound after the flyover,” the Air Force said, noting that the tower did not advise them of the incoming commercial aircraft.
The flyover happened at 7:50 p.m., and the B-52 kept flying west as instructed to clear the airport’s airspace before returning to base, according to the Air Force.
The FAA, Air Force and SkyWest are investigating the incident, the latest in a string of recent air safety scares.
On Jan. 29, an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter collided over Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people aboard the two aircraft. It was later found that the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, on a training exercise, had been flying in airspace well above where it should have been when it struck the regional jet out of Wichita, Kansas.
On Feb. 17, another flight out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport owned by Delta crashed upon landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport. All 76 passengers and four crew members survived but 21 were injured.
Then in late February, a Southwest Airlines flight set to land at Chicago’s Midway Airport was forced to sharply rise back into the sky to avoid another aircraft crossing the runway.
The FAA said Monday that a private company provides services for the Minot air traffic control tower, and that those controllers are not FAA employees.
