NTSB releases preliminary report on B52 bomber that nearly hit commercial flight Michelle Del Rey , USA TODAYAugust 29, 2025 at 5:08 AM A B52 Bomber nearly collided with two airplanes in one day, according to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday, Aug...
- - NTSB releases preliminary report on B-52 bomber that nearly hit commercial flight
Michelle Del Rey , USA TODAYAugust 29, 2025 at 5:08 AM
A B-52 Bomber nearly collided with two airplanes in one day, according to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday, Aug. 27.
The July 19 incident came to light after the pilot operating the SkyWest Airlines flight apologized to customers for performing an "aggressive maneuver" to avoid hitting a military aircraft.
The airline was operating a regional flight for Delta Air Lines to Minot International Airport in North Dakota from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
A US Air Force's B-52 bomber flies over Skopje, Macedonia on August 22, 2022.What happened?
The military plane appeared without warning in a scary moment during the flight. The U.S. Air Force said air traffic controllers never warned the B-52 crew about the nearby aircraft. According to the NTSB's report, there was only one air traffic controller working at the airport at the time of the near-misses.
The agency revealed that after the bomber nearly hit the commercial airplane, it almost collided with a private Piper aircraft.
There was normal volume with normal capacity for that time of day, the airport's air traffic control manager told the agency.
The SkyWest pilot told customers he was surprised to see the bomber, which was performing a flyby over the North Dakota Fairgrounds. The Federal Aviation Administration had cleared the military plane to enter the airspace.
"Sorry about the aggressive maneuver," the pilot said over the intercom. "It caught me by surprise...This is not normal at all. I don't know why they didn't give us a heads up."
Later, the B-52 came within one-third of a mile of hitting the Piper airplane.
Transcripts of the calls between air traffic control and the airplanes show that the controller was struggling to navigate the aircraft.
At one point, the controller issued a command to the military plane, but then instructed the pilots to disregard it. The SkyWest pilot told passengers that Minot Airport does not have radar and its tower does everything visually.
How did passengers describe the near-miss?
Monica Green, one of the 76 passengers on board SkyWest Airlines Flight 3788, shared video of the ordeal with Storyful.
She said the force of the maneuver "kept me centered in my seat, but I could look out the window and see straight at the grass instead of seeing the horizon."
She added it felt like a "very abrupt U-turn." There were also four crew members on board the flight.
The pilot made the decision not to tell passengers about the near-miss until they had landed safely, Green told CBS.
"It was so crazy to not know what was happening in the moment and just hear it after the fact, and then just be let off the plane just to continue about our days as normal" she said.
The NTSB did not definitively state what caused the near-misses. A final report on the matter is due approximately one year after the incident.
The near-miss comes roughly eight months after a military Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet over the Potomac River, killing 67 people.
Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NTSB releases report on B-52 bomber that nearly hit passenger plane
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