The airspace above the US seems to be a free-for-all at the moment. There appears to be no communication between military and commercial air traffic control. As a result, we have almost seen another collision, narrowly avoided by a Delta Airlines pilot maneuvering to slip past an enormous B-52 bomber.
As the Embraer E175 came into land at Minot International Airport in North Dakota, some very sudden evasive maneuvers were felt by passengers. “We took a really hard turn. That’s when the pilot got on the intercom and said, ‘Sorry, everybody. I’ll explain everything when we land safely,” a passenger recalled to KFYR TV.
As the Delta pilot made their approach to the runway, they realised they were on a collision course with a B-52 Stratofortress Bomber. In this dogfight, the passenger plane was more nimble and was able to narrowly avoid a collision.
The B-52 is a massive long-range bomber designed to carry phenomenally large payloads over huge distances. An impact with one would be catastrophic.
Relative Calm For Passengers During Near Miss
Despite the “aggressive maneuvering” necessary for the Delta pilot to avoid hitting the military B-52, passengers on board were calm. “I felt like I was gaslighting myself. Like, maybe I was being crazy, because no one else was reacting,” the passenger told the outlet.
But when the plane finally came to a standstill on the runway, the pilot revealed how close they had come to disaster. Taking his time and collecting his thoughts, the Delta pilot explained what happened.
“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,” the passenger said.
It had been a near thing for the passengers on board the Delta flight. Had they collided with an aircraft as large as a B-52, it would have made the military helicopter disaster pale in comparison. Thankfully, though, due to the quick thinking of the pilot, disaster was averted.
However, there needs to be something done about the communication issue in the US.