The crew of a B-52H Stratofortress that had a near-miss with a civilian airliner near Minot International Airport last Friday told air traffic control they were nearby, but were not informed a passenger jet was in the area, the Air Force said.
The passenger jet, flight 3788 from SkyWest Airlines, was on approach to land at the Minot airport the evening of July 18 when it had to veer sharply to avoid the B-52. Both planes ultimately landed safely. A passenger took video of the pilot’s explanation of what happened afterwards, which was widely shared online.
“Nobody told us about” the B-52 in the area, the pilot told passengers. “There’s no radar here. The tower does everything visually. … This is not normal at all, I don’t know why they didn’t give us a heads up, because the Air Force base does have radar, and nobody said, ‘Hey, there’s also a B-52 in the pattern.’”
Minot Air Force Base released a statement Monday night that detailed its understanding of the incident, and said the B-52’s flyover of the North Dakota State Fairgrounds was planned in advance and cleared by the FAA. The base said the airport’s air traffic control personnel and the Minot base’s Radar Approach Control, or RAPCON, were among those informed about the B-52’s flyover plans.
The Air Force said the B-52 crew contacted RAPCON at about 7:10 pm to get ready for the flyover and remained in contact as the plane flew to a holding point 12 miles east of the fairgrounds.
During that holding period, the Air Force said, the B-52 crew told both RAPCON and the airport’s air traffic control tower about their flyover plans. The Air Force said that at 7:40, the B-52 crew told the base’s RAPCON that it was heading towards the fairgrounds, roughly two miles southeast of the Minot airport.
Three minutes later, RAPCON told the B-52 crew to contact the air traffic control tower, which the crew did, the Air Force said. The tower instructed the B-52 to keep flying two miles westbound after the flyover was done, the Air Force said, but air traffic controllers did not tell the B-52 a passenger jet was inbound.
The B-52’s flyover happened at 7:50, the Air Force said, and it kept flying west as instructed to clear the airport’s airspace before returning to base.
The Air Force said the FAA is investigating the incident. SkyWest said it is conducting an investigation as well.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
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