A regional jet flying on behalf of Delta Air Lines had to make a last minute maneuver to avoid a B-52 bomber, and the level of detail in which the pilot communicated this to passengers is quite something.
While I first covered this a couple of days ago, I’d like to provide an update, as we now have a statement from the Air Force, with their version of events, and it makes this situation even stranger.
Delta plane has close call with military jet in North Dakota
This incident happened on Thursday, July 18, 2025, and it involves Delta flight DL3788, operating from Minneapolis, Minnesota (MSP), to Minot, North Dakota (MOT). The 449-mile flight was flown by an Embraer E175 operated by SkyWest, under the Delta Connection brand, which is Delta’s regional subsidiary.
The roughly 90-minute flight was mostly routine, and if you look at flight tracking software, you’ll simply see that the plane had a missed approach at Minot, circled back around, and came in for a successful landing. That’s hardly out of the ordinary, at least on the surface.
However, the actual details of the incident are a bit more dramatic. A TikTok user posted a video online with the audio of the pilot explaining to passengers what happened, and it has now been viewed millions of times. Note that the audio only starts part way into the explanation:
“For those of you on the right hand side, you probably saw the airplane kind of sort of coming at us. Nobody told us about it, so we continued and there’s no radar here, so the tower does everything visually. So they sent us about six miles from the airport, so we did that, I think he realized that the spacing wasn’t going to work, and I looked over and there was an airplane that was supposed to be on the right hand side.”
“I thought it was a small airplane, like the ones you see at the airport right now doing touch and goes. And he said turn right, and I said there’s an airplane over there, and he says turn left, and by the time we read back the clearance, we looked over and saw the airplane that was kind of coming on a convergent course with us.”
“So given his speed, it was a military aircraft, it was the safest thing to do to turn behind it. So sorry for the aggressive maneuver, it caught me by surprise, and it’s not normal at all. I don’t know why they didn’t give us a heads up. Because the airport base does have radar, and nobody said ‘hey, there’s also a B-52 in the pattern.’ Long story short, it wasn’t fun, and I do apologize for it, and I thank you for your understanding. Not a fun day at work.”
You can listen to the audio for yourself below.
For those curious why there was B-52 near a small regional airport in North Dakota, it’s because Minot Air Force Base is also in this area, and there are dozens of B-52s stationed there.
It’s exceedingly rare to see a pilot go into this level of detail with passengers about an incident. I’m conflicted about this.
On the one hand, a major point of frustration that air travelers have is the lack of transparency when things go wrong, ranging from weather delays, to maintenance issues. This guy deserves huge credit for communicating transparently, and it seems that passengers greatly appreciate that — you can hear everyone clapping at the end, and the comments on TikTok are basically universally praising the pilot.
On the other hand, he could’ve just as easily said “sorry about that maneuver, we had to perform a go around due to some traffic, we’ll be landing again soon,” and no one would’ve likely thought more of it. It almost seems like he’s sharing this level of detail over the PA in order to process his own feelings about the incident.
As you’d expect, talking about having to perform an “aggressive maneuver” to avoid a military aircraft is something that is fresh in peoples’ minds, given the fatal January 2025 accident, where a Black Hawk helicopter crashed into an American Eagle jet.
Air Force states that all policies were being followed
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is now investing this incident, and the Minot Air Force Base has issued a statement about the incident:
On Friday, July 18, at approximately 7:50 p.m., a B-52 bomber from Minot AFB conducted a flyover at the North Dakota State Fairgrounds. This flyover was a special event recognizing the city of Minot as a ‘Great American Defense Community,’ an honor that highlights the city’s strong support for the military.
The flyover was planned in advance and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. This included the FAA’s local Flight Standards District Office, Minot International Airport air traffic control personnel, and Minot Approach Control (RAPCON).
At approximately 7:10 p.m. prior to the flyover, the B-52 crew contacted Minot Approach (RAPCON) to prepare for the flyover. Required checklists were completed, and the crew remained in contact with Minot Approach as it flew to its holding point 12 miles east of the fairgrounds. While holding, the B-52 crew communicated the flyover plan to both RAPCON and Minot International Airport’s air traffic control tower.
At 7:40 p.m., the B-52 crew advised Minot Approach they were departing the holding point for the fairgrounds.
Minot Approach directed the B-52 crew at 7:43 p.m. to contact Minot International Airport’s air traffic control. The B-52 crew contacted Minot International Airport tower and the tower provided instructions to continue 2 miles westbound after the flyover. The tower did not advise of the inbound commercial aircraft.
The B-52 crossed the fairgrounds show center at 7:50 p.m. and proceeded west as directed to clear Minot International Tower’s airspace before returning to Minot AFB.
It sounds like the Air Force followed all procedures here, so it’s going to be interesting to see what an investigation reveals.
Bottom line
A Delta regional jet was forced to perform a last minute “aggressive maneuver” to avoid a B-52 bomber, while landing in North Dakota. Purely from looking at flight tracking, you wouldn’t think much of the aborted landing, though the pilot gave quite the detailed account of what happened. Kudos to the pilot, I don’t think you can be much more transparent about an incident than he was.
What’s strange about this is that the Minot Air Force Base claims this B-52 was performing a flyover, and had been in touch with air traffic control regarding its plans, so this shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’ll be interesting to see what an FAA investigation reveals.
What do you make of this incident, and the pilot’s communication?
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