FAA probes near miss call between SkyWest jet, US Air Force B-52 in North Dakota
SkyWest Flight 3788, an Embraer ERJ-175 operating as a Delta Connection flight from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota, landed safely in Minot on Friday after performing a go-around during its landing approach when another plane became visible in its flight path, SkyWest said.
The Air Force confirmed a B-52 aircraft assigned to Minot Air Force Base conducted a flyover of the North Dakota State Fair on Friday. 'We are currently looking into the matter,' the Air Force said.
The SkyWest pilot reportedly said the incident caught him by surprise, prompting him to make an aggressive move to avoid a possible collision, according to a video recording posted by a passenger on social media. SkyWest did not immediately comment on the video or confirm its accuracy.
Representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, said she was highly concerned with the incident.
'The incident in Minot raises serious questions about passenger safety,' McCollum said. 'Given the Department of Defense training that takes place in the surrounding area, Minot International Airport must also immediately receive and install radar technology to have a full accounting of all local air traffic.'
The FAA noted that air traffic services were provided by the Minot air traffic control tower, which is run by a private company and not FAA employees.
The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating another close call involving a Delta jet and a group of Air Force jets near Reagan Washington National Airport on March 28.
The jet in that incident, a Delta Airbus A319, received a cockpit collision warning alert that another aircraft was nearby, and controllers issued corrective instructions to the Delta plane and one of the military jets. The Delta plane had been cleared to depart as four Air Force T-38 Talons were heading to nearby Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover.
The NTSB said in a preliminary report there had been confusion about when controllers were to halt traffic during the flyover.
There has been intense focus on military traffic near civilian airplanes since an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet on January 29 near Reagan National, killing 67 people.
In early May the FAA barred Army helicopter flights around the Pentagon after another near miss. — Reuters
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Malay Mail
4 days ago
- Malay Mail
Remembering the ‘unspeakable horrors' 80 years after US dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki
TOKYO, Aug 5 — Japan this week marks 80 years since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. The first on August 6, 1945 killed around 140,000 people in Hiroshima and three days later another 74,000 perished in Nagasaki. Here are some facts about the devastating attacks: (FILES) This photo obtained from the US Air Force dated August 1945 shows the crew of the B-29 bomber "Enola Gay" including pilot Paul W. Tibbets (centre), who named the aircraft after his mother, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II. — AFP pic The bombs The first atomic bomb was dropped on the western city of Hiroshima by the US bomber Enola Gay, nicknamed 'Little Boy'. It detonated about 600 metres from the ground, with a force equivalent to 15,000 tonnes of TNT. Tens of thousands died instantly, while others succumbed to injuries or illness in the weeks, months and years that followed. Three days later the US dropped a second bomb, dubbed 'Fat Man', on the southern city of Nagasaki. The attacks remain the only time atomic bombs have been used in wartime. This file photo from the US Air Force taken in August 1945 shows Maj. Theodore Van Kirk (L), navigator, Col. Paul Tibbets (C), pilot, and Maj. Thomas Ferebee, bombardier, after dropping the first atom bomb on Japan. — AFP pic The attacks In Hiroshima, the first thing people noticed was an 'intense ball of fire', according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Temperatures near the blast reached an estimated 7,000 degrees Celsius, which incinerated everything within a radius of about three kilometres. 'I remember the charred bodies of little children lying around the hypocentre area like black rocks,' Koichi Wada, a witness who was 18 at the time of the Nagasaki attack, has said of the bombing. ICRC experts say there were cases of temporary or permanent blindness due to the intense flash of light, and subsequent related damage such as cataracts. A whirlwind of heat generated also ignited thousands of fires that ravaged large parts of the mostly wooden city. A firestorm that consumed all available oxygen caused more deaths by suffocation. It has been estimated that burn- and fire-related casualties accounted for more than half of the immediate deaths in Hiroshima. The explosion generated an enormous shock wave that blew people through the air. Others were crushed to death inside collapsed buildings or injured or killed by flying debris. A photo dated September 1945 of the remains of the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building after the bombing of Hiroshima, which was later preserved as a monument. — AFP pic Radiation effects Radiation sickness was reported in the aftermath by many who survived the initial blasts and firestorms. Acute symptoms included vomiting, headaches, nausea, diarrhoea, haemorrhaging and hair loss, with radiation sickness fatal for many within a few weeks or months. Survivors, known as 'hibakusha', also experienced longer-term effects including elevated risks of thyroid cancer and leukaemia, and both Hiroshima and Nagasaki have seen elevated cancer rates. Of 50,000 radiation victims from both cities studied by the Japanese-US Radiation Effects Research Foundation, about 100 died of leukaemia and 850 suffered from radiation-induced cancers. The group found no evidence however of a 'significant increase' in serious birth defects among survivors' children. This photo taken in 1948 shows a view of the devastated city of Hiroshima in Japan, three years after the first atomic bomb was dropped on a population. — AFP pic The aftermath The twin bombings dealt the final blow to imperial Japan, which surrendered on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War II. Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. But those calculations meant little to survivors, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as the stigma that sometimes came with being a hibakusha. Despite their suffering, many survivors were shunned — in particular for marriage — because of prejudice over radiation exposure. Survivors and their supporters have become some of the loudest and most powerful voices opposing nuclear weapons, including meeting world leaders to press their case. Last year, the Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of hibakusha, won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2019, Pope Francis met several hibakusha in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, decrying the 'unspeakable horror' and calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. In 2016, Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima. He offered no apology for the attack, but embraced survivors and called for a world free of nuclear weapons. Russia is one of around 100 countries expected to attend this year's memorial in Nagasaki, the first time Moscow has been invited to commemorations in the city since the start of the war with Ukraine. — AFP
Free Malaysia Today
22-07-2025
- Free Malaysia Today
US passenger jet has close call with B-52 bomber
The Delta flight, operated by SkyWest, took off from Minneapolis. (Getty Images/AFP pic) WASHINGTON : A passenger jet performed an 'aggressive manoeuvre' to avoid a mid-air collision with a US military bomber over the state of North Dakota, according to recorded audio of the commercial pilot. Delta Flight 3788, operated by SkyWest, took off from Minneapolis 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.' SkyWest was investigating the Friday incident. 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 approaching Washington's Reagan National Airport, killing all 67 people aboard both aircraft. The disaster prompted federal authorities and congress to review coordination between military and civilian aircraft flying in the same airspace.
Malay Mail
22-07-2025
- Malay Mail
FAA probes near miss call between SkyWest jet, US Air Force B-52 in North Dakota
WASHINGTON, July 22 — The Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday it is investigating a near miss between a SkyWest Airlines jet and a US Air Force jet over North Dakota last week. SkyWest Flight 3788, an Embraer ERJ-175 operating as a Delta Connection flight from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota, landed safely in Minot on Friday after performing a go-around during its landing approach when another plane became visible in its flight path, SkyWest said. The Air Force confirmed a B-52 aircraft assigned to Minot Air Force Base conducted a flyover of the North Dakota State Fair on Friday. 'We are currently looking into the matter,' the Air Force said. The SkyWest pilot reportedly said the incident caught him by surprise, prompting him to make an aggressive move to avoid a possible collision, according to a video recording posted by a passenger on social media. SkyWest did not immediately comment on the video or confirm its accuracy. Representative Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, said she was highly concerned with the incident. 'The incident in Minot raises serious questions about passenger safety,' McCollum said. 'Given the Department of Defense training that takes place in the surrounding area, Minot International Airport must also immediately receive and install radar technology to have a full accounting of all local air traffic.' The FAA noted that air traffic services were provided by the Minot air traffic control tower, which is run by a private company and not FAA employees. The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating another close call involving a Delta jet and a group of Air Force jets near Reagan Washington National Airport on March 28. The jet in that incident, a Delta Airbus A319, received a cockpit collision warning alert that another aircraft was nearby, and controllers issued corrective instructions to the Delta plane and one of the military jets. The Delta plane had been cleared to depart as four Air Force T-38 Talons were heading to nearby Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover. The NTSB said in a preliminary report there had been confusion about when controllers were to halt traffic during the flyover. There has been intense focus on military traffic near civilian airplanes since an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet on January 29 near Reagan National, killing 67 people. In early May the FAA barred Army helicopter flights around the Pentagon after another near miss. — Reuters
