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Airliner Avoids B-52 at Minot, ND Flyover |
2025-07-22 |
[CBS News] The pilot of a SkyWest flight told passengers Friday night that he performed an "aggressive maneuver" to avoid a B-52 military aircraft in-flight as he came in for a landing in Minot, North Dakota. In a video recorded by a passenger, the pilot is heard calmly announcing to passengers: "For those of you on the right-hand side, you probably saw the airplane kinda sorta coming at us. Nobody told us about it and so we continued." "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.'" The pilot explained that the tower at the Minot airport doesn't have radar, so air traffic controllers do everything visually. Minot Air Force Base said later Monday in a statement that the B-52 was performing the flyover for "a special event recognizing the city of Minot as a 'Great American Defense Community.'" "The flyover was planned in advance and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. This included the FAA's local Flight Standards District Office, Minot International Airport air traffic control personnel, and Minot Approach Control," the base said. |
Posted by:Bobby |
#5 Not sure the B-52 has the type of ATC transponder that the SkyWest Jet's TCAS would have seen. Minot AFB RAPCON would have seen both aircraft and why the did not alert SkyWest is part of the puzzle |
Posted by: TZSenator 2025-07-22 14:23 |
#4 Habitual Linecrosser does a skit of this at the end of this video |
Posted by: DarthVader 2025-07-22 14:23 |
#3 No NOTAM? |
Posted by: Difar Dave 2025-07-22 09:56 |
#2 ....Glad nothing happened - but I'm wondering why the ATCs at the AFB tower didn't see this happening. Mike |
Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2025-07-22 09:21 |
#1 SkyWest pilot probably in need of a new set of britches. |
Posted by: Mullah Richard 2025-07-22 09:08 |