Skywest flight pilot told passengers on Friday night that they demonstrated a “aggressive maneuver” to avoid a clear B -52 military aircraft, as he had come for a landing in Minot, North Dakota -apologized for a sudden step.
The airline said in a statement that Skywest Flight 3788, acting as a delta connection on a flight from Minoriapolis, “after the tower was cleaned to the approach to the tower safely landed in Minot, but when another aircraft was visible in its flight path, we are investigating the incident. We are investigating the incident.
In a video recorded by passenger Monica Green and received by CBS News, the pilot is heard by the passengers to declare peacefully: “For those of you on the right hand side, you probably saw a little sorta coming to us. No one told us about it and so we continued.”
The pilot said that the tower does not have a radar at the Minot Airport, so air traffic controllers do everything blind.
Pilot said that he “looked at the airplane that was coming with us on an convergence course.”
“Looking at his speed,” the pilot continued, “it was a military (aircraft). I don’t know how fast they were going, but they were much faster than us. I felt the safest task was to turn behind it. So, sorry about aggressive maneuvers. It surprised me.
“This is not normal at all. I don’t know why they did not give us the head -up because there is no radar on the basis of the Air Force and no one said,” Hey, the pattern also has B -52. “
Pilot said, “The long story was short, it was not fun, but I apologize for it and I thank you for everything. It was not a fun day at work today,” Pilot said, the point on which the passengers started appreciation.
Skywest said there were 76 passengers and four crew members in the flight.
An Air Force spokesman told CBS News, ,We know about recent reporting about the operation of commercial and air force aircraft in the airspace around the Minot International Airport. Currently we are looking into this matter. ,
The statement also said, “We can confirm that a B -52 aircraft assigned to Minot AFB conducts a flyover of North Dakota State Fair on Friday evening.”
Passenger Green, who recorded the video, said that as the aircraft was landing, he realized that it was a shock to the right.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that it is working to gather information about what happened.
Chris Van Cleve contributed to this report.
