A Delta Air Lines Inc. jet was forced to abort landing to avoid a midair collision with a B-52 bomber in North Dakota last week, a go-around maneuver described as “aggressive” by ABC News citing the pilot.
The July 18 incident is being investigated, SkyWest Inc., which operated Delta flight 3788, said in a statement to Bloomberg News. The pilot apologized to passengers after landing, ABC said in a report Sunday, citing a recording of remarks by the pilot, who it didn’t identify.
The near-miss comes at a time air safety in the US is under intense scrutiny. With a chronic shortage of controllers, breakdowns of air traffic systems, and the fatal crash involving an American Air regional jet with a US Army helicopter, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has pledged an overhaul to boost safety.
The SkyWest-operated Delta jet had departed from Minneapolis on Friday evening and was on approach to Minot Airport, North Dakota, which is located approximately 18 kilometers (11.2 miles) south of an Air Force base. The military airfield is home to 26 B-52 bombers and almost 13,000 personnel, dependents, and civilians on-site.
The pilots were cleared to land by an air traffic controller, but they executed a go-around maneuver, SkyWest said.
Flightradar24 data shows minutes prior to landing the Embraer SA E175 jet reached an altitude of about 2,200 feet before rapidly climbing to 4,150 feet and performing a u-turn to make a second, successful attempt at touchdown.
The Air Force didn’t release any information to ABC on the incident. Delta referred all comments to SkyWest.
“SkyWest flight 3788, operating as Delta Connection from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Minot, North Dakota on July 18, landed safely in Minot after being cleared for approach by the tower but performed a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight path,” the regional jet operator said in a statement. “We are investigating the incident.”
Congress has provided the Federal Aviation Administration $12.5 billion to start the modernization of air traffic telecommunications equipment. Duffy says the overhaul of the aging systems will cost $31.5 billion.