A close call between a Delta/Skywest flight to Minot airport in North Dakota an Air Force B-52 bomber. Apparently the pilots not advised of other aircraft. Minot airport a class D airport with no radar.
I get civilian plane and an airport with no radar but a sophisticated but old bomber doesn't get more attention from the ground or it's own defensive radar/systems?
The report says that Minot Class D does not have radar. The Skywest pilot was quoted saying they don't have radar. With my limited flight experience flying into small airports, I did experience control towers warning of nearby aircraft not necessarily on collision courses, but just to be on the lookout, and pilots reporting back when they did gain visual sighting of other aircraft. It struck me as something like courtesy information.
I remember our Cessna taking off and doing the best it could to gain altitude. Right behind us, a twin engine something or other took off. And of course everyone knew each other was operating in the air. The tower warned the twin engine to be on the lookout for the smaller Cessna, but we couldn't see the twin, because he was behind us.
A minute later (or less) the twin reported, "We have the Cessna in sight." It was kind of embarrassing in a funny way, when the other pilot had to add, "He's about two thousand feet below us and we are way past him right now."
