SQUEAKING IT

Flight That Narrowly Avoided B52 Not Informed Bomber Was in the Area

Air traffic controllers appear to have completely failed to warn the commercial flight there was a military aircraft nearby.

Ground control crews allegedly failed to warn a SkyWest flight there was a B52 Air Force bomber in the area, forcing the pilot to perform a sharp turn to narrowly avoid the military aircraft. The commercial plane was heading in land at Minot International Aircraft, North Dakota on Friday when the near miss took place. “Sorry about the aggressive maneuver. It caught me by surprise,” the pilot is reported to have told passengers and crew not long after. “This is not normal at all. I don’t know why they didn’t give us a heads up.” The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Air Force and SkyWest are reportedly investigating the incident, which follows a spate of scares, near misses and tragic crashes that have lately raised concerns about the effectiveness of oversight at the FAA. In February, a Southwest Airlines flight was forced to resume altitude after almost hitting another plane taxiing along the runway at Chicago’s Midway Airport. Only the month before, a passenger jet and Army helicopter had collided above Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people aboard both aircrafts.