A pilot flying a Delta Air Lines regional jet on Friday apologized to his passengers after making a hard turn to avoid colliding with a US Air Force B-52 bomber, audio from the incident shows.
The incident occurred on SkyWest Flight 3788, which was operating as a Delta Connection flight, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Minot, North Dakota, SkyWest said in a statement.
The flight landed safely in Minot “after being cleared for approach by the tower but performed a go-around when another aircraft became visible in their flight path,” the statement read.
In aircraft and boats, the more maneuverable craft has the responsibility to evade. Since this flight was going to a small airport in North Dakota, I’m guessing it’s a small commuter plane that’s much smaller than a B-52.
Pilot here: while that is generally true, for aviation the rule is that aircraft types that are in the same category have to give way to landing aircraft. Ie, a hot air balloon doesn’t need to give way to a landing fixed wing but a fixed wing and fixed wing do need to give way to the landing aircraft.
The Delta pilot should be commended and the B52 should have been more aware of their situation.
In addition, ATC clearance generally means you have right of way especially on a landing approach.
Thank you for sharing.
I have to quibble with that a bit. An ATC clearance has no impact on right of way. IFR flights in VMC are still required to see and avoid.
True that landing aircraft has right of way, although I’m not aware of any interpretation that simply being cleared for or on an approach is enough… unless you’re on the final approach segment you aren’t really “landing” yet. (I have no idea if that was the case here or not).