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Delta Airlines -- "You'll Love the Way We Fly" [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-20
Passengers onboard a regional Delta flight from Minneapolis, MN to Minot, SD Friday got a little more excitement than they were probably expecting when their pilot had to perform an emergency maneuver to avoid colliding with a B-52 strategic bomber that unexpectedly showed up in their air space as they were preparing to land. The NY Post actually has one of the better write-ups, once you get beyond their typically hyoerbolic headline:
The Embraer E175 jet — en route from Minneapolis-Saint Paul to Minot International Airport in North Dakota — came perilously close to colliding with a B-52 Stratofortress from Minot Air Force Base during the 90-minute flight Saturday night.
The SkyWest Airlines pilot performed an “aggressive maneuver” to avoid the incoming bomber, which crew members as well as passengers on the right side of the jet could see from their windows, Aviation A2Z reported.
Passengers on the plane said the atmosphere on board was “weirdly calm” as the commercial jet made an unexpected series of sharp turns.
“I felt like I was gaslighting myself, like maybe I was being crazy, because no one else was reacting,” passenger Monica Green told KFYR TV.
“We took a really hard turn, and that’s when the pilot got on the intercom and said, ‘sorry everybody, I’ll explain everything when we land safely,’” she said.
..
“He was very casual, if you can be casual about something like that, but you could tell he was stressed. He was almost shaking, trying to find the right words, but he was nice and detailed. It felt good that they weren’t just going to brush it off,” Green said.
The pilot told passengers over the plane’s public address system that he received instructions from air traffic controllers to change direction due to inadequate separation from a preceding aircraft on the approach path.
He explained that he had no prior warning of military air traffic — which he said was highly irregular due to Minot Air Force Base having radar capabilities — and quickly determined the safest course of action was to turn the plane behind the bomber, the outlet writes.
After the plane landed safely, relieved passengers thanked the pilot for his transparency during the frightening near-miss.
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