On July 18, 2025, the sky over Minot, North Dakota, was transformed into a theatre for a dramatic and unsettling episode in American aviation history. After a spectacular overflight at the North Dakota State Fair, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber was hard on the heels of a commercial airliner and a small private plane, such that it almost hit them. This event has since become a focal point for conversations about the complexities and fragilities of mixed military and civilian airspace management, particularly around less-trafficked airports.
A B-52 based at Minot Air Force Base was wrapping up its officially authorized overflight when it went off track and started its landing approach at Minot International Airport, which triggered the incident. At that time, SkyWest Airlines Flight 3788, operating as a Delta Connection from Minneapolis, was on final approach with 76 passengers and four crew members.
The National Transportation Safety Board report – at its initial stage – states that the B-52 was on its briefed flight plan and was coordinated in advance with Minot Air Traffic Control as well as Dakota Radar Approach Control. The air traffic controller who was on duty, however, did not suggest to the B-52 crew that a commercial jet was inbound, nor did he warn the pilot of the airliner of the bomber’s whereabouts.
Just at that moment when the two aircraft locations were about to overlap, the SkyWest pilot suddenly saw the massive bomber coming up on his right side. Since he was given no warning, he did what he called later “an aggressive maneuver” to avoid a crash, in which he wrenched the regional jet into a quick turn that not only pushed him into their seat but also looked at the ground instead of the sky. Monica Green, a passenger seated near the front, remembered the quietness and uneasiness that gripped the plane as it made the steep bank and everyone realized in silence that something was not right. The pilot, letting his nervousness be heard, apologized to the passengers after landing, saying it was a surprise for him when it happened, and he did not receive any prior warning from air traffic control.
The drama was not over with a near miss of a commercial jet. The B-52 came close to crashing with a light aircraft, a privately operated Piper PA-28-151, which was also flying around the airport under visual flight rules, less than a minute after the near-miss with the commercial jet. The detail that the bomber came within one-third of a mile of the Piper is only in the NTSB’s preliminary findings. Once again, the controller did not tell the crew on the B-52 that there was a smaller plane in the area.
The NTSB report describes a tower in Minot where both confusion and a breakdown in procedures were evident. As things stood, there was only one controller on duty, and he was in charge of visually managing all traffic because there was no radar; as a result, the work quickly went beyond his capacity.
Looking at transcripts of radio communications, it is clear that the controller had issued several confusing or delayed commands, and in one instance, had even to reverse the instructions because he had confused call signs. The local controller was also in charge of communicating with a regional FAA radar controller from Rapid City, South Dakota, before he could give out any instructions, and this procedure might have been the reason for the delays that occurred.
Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation safety consultant who has worked on the NTSB and FAA investigation cases, was very clear that the controller did not warn the Delta and Piper pilots early enough to turn the aircraft off and thus be able to keep a safe distance from the bomber. He added that the occurrence of three aircraft meeting each other at the very same time, combined with the unavailability of radar and the need for external coordination, escalated the situation quickly.
However, wonderfully, the three aircraft managed to land without any problems, and no one was injured. The NTSB’s initial report did not point fingers, but only stated that the B-52 was functioning within its limits and that the visual separation standard was followed by both the bomber and the Piper. Meanwhile, the Air Force stressed that it remains committed to safety and will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigations, as was also confirmed by the FAA, which has already set up its own inquiry, commenting that Minot’s tower is run by private contractors and not by the agency’s staff.
This is an incident that occurred amidst the implementation of military and civilian airspace coordination strategies, which have been under increased focus after several accidents and close calls that have been reported in recent years.
The Minot event shows how airports with no radar, and particularly smaller ones, are handling the situation under the still present military operations that have now been overlapped with commercial and private aviation, and thus are facing the challenges of such a convergence. While the NTSB and FAA are conducting their investigations, aviation is still struggling with how to prevent this from happening again as the skies get more and more crowded, especially in those areas where the risk is the highest and there is very little room for error.