ATC USA - AVweb

 

Sjekk denne for den aller beste forklaringen på det som skjedde. Her er det mye som virker vemmelig, ikke minst at det var en "contractor" som  var på jobb i tårnet. Hva er det? Sjekk https://tinyurl.com/4fx68dsj (Red.)

Regional Pilot Debriefs Passengers After Avoiding ‘Converging’ B-52

Tomas Del Coro/Wikimedia/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Pilot made 'aggressive maneuver' to avoid the nuclear bomber.

Russ Niles

·Sunday, July 20, 2025

 

SkyWest Airlines says it’s investigating a near collision between one of its E175s with an Air Force B-52 that prompted one of the regional jet’s pilots to take “aggressive” evasive action at Minot Airport in North Dakota. The E175, flying for Delta Connection, was on final on a flight from Minneapolis Friday evening when pilots saw they were on a converging course with the giant nuclear bomber. “I don’t know how fast they were going but they were going a lot faster than us. I felt it was the safest thing to turn behind them,” he told passengers after the encounter. “Sorry for the aggressive maneuver. It caught me by surprise. It was not normal at all.” The pilot said he doesn’t know why he wasn’t given a “heads up” that the massive Air Force plane was in the pattern. There are dozens of B-52s based at nearby Minot Air Force Base, about 13 miles north of the civilian airport. The pilot got on the PA system after they were on the ground to explain the abrupt turn to the passengers.

To a round of applause from the passengers, the somewhat rattled-sounding pilot thanked them for their understanding and described how he was told by a tower controller to turn in the direction of a converging airplane. Before he could turn away from that plane, as further directed by the tower, he decided to hit the throttles to climb and turn sharply to pass behind the bomber. He also explained the civilian tower at Minot doesn’t have radar and everything is done visually, but he did note that the Air Force base does have radar and did not tell the regional crew that the B-52 was in the pattern. “It was not a fun day at work,” he said.

The airline confirmed the incident in a statement to AVweb. “SkyWest flight 3788, operating as Delta Connection from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Minot, North Dakota on July 18, landed safely in Minot after being cleared for approach by the tower but performed a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight path. We are investigating the incident.”