US authorities probe after plane narrowly misses mid-air crash with military bomber

Khaleej Times

2 days ago

US aviation regulators said Monday 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.
A Delta flight operated by SkyWest took off Friday from Minneapolis and was approaching the city of Minot, North Dakota 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, according to recorded audio of the commercial pilot
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"Sorry about the aggressive maneuver," he said. "This is not normal at all."
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that US officials are "investigating the event involving SkyWest Airlines Flight 3788 at Minot International Airport on Friday, July 18".
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 took place in Minot.
The northern city, about 50 miles (80 kilometres) 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 United States — 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.
The passenger who recorded the video, Monica Green, said she was "sick to my stomach" about the near miss.
Green, quoted by NBC News, said she felt the jet take a hard turn and then "I just remember the plane going, like, sideways... and just looking straight out the window and just seeing grass" with no visible skyline.
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.