The pilot of a SkyWest flight told passengers Friday night that he performed an “aggressive maneuver” to avoid an apparent B-52 military aircraft in-flight as he came in for a landing in Minot, North Dakota — then apologized for the sudden move.
The airline said in a statement that SkyWest flight 3788, operating as Delta Connection on a flight from Minneapolis, “landed safely in Minot after being cleared for approach by the tower but performing a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight path. We are investigating the incident.”
The pilot explained that the tower at the Minot airport doesn’t have radar, so air traffic controllers do everything visually.
The pilot said he “saw the airplane that was kind of coming on a converging course with us.”
“Given his speed,” the pilot continued, “it was a military (aircraft). I don’t know how fast they were going but they were a lot faster than us. I thought the safest thing to do was to turn behind it. So, sorry about the aggressive maneuver. It caught me by surprise.
“This is not normal at all. I don’t know why they didn’t give us a heads-up because the (nearby) Air Force base does have radar and nobody said, ‘Hey, there’s also a B-52 in the pattern.'”
“Long story short, it was not fun but I do apologize for it and I thank you for everything. It was not a fun day at work today,” the pilot added, at which point the passengers started applauding.
SkyWest said the flight had 76 passengers and four crew members on board.
Green, the passenger who recorded the video, said that as the aircraft was descending, she felt it jolt to the right.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it is investigating the incident.
Kris Van Cleave
contributed to this report.
