Why is a B-52 out of Barksdale (LA) making an emergency landing in ND in February? Why was it there?
Not that there’s any connection, but this reminds me of the “missing” nuke story from September/October 2006 when someone did not follow protocol/chain of command/whatever regulations and flew nukes across the country. Wasn’t Barksdale a part of that story as well?
Minot is a B-52 base too. It was probably trying to get to the base when the weather forced them to land at the IAP about 15 miles south. Man, landing a B-52 on a 7700 ft runway in bad weather! I bet the pucker factor for the aircrew was quite high.
Donuts.
The aircraft had just departed from Minot AFB, another B-52 base. Crew was there for training, many military training routes in the area. Because the B-52 is a long range aircraft most of its training missions are long flights. These type of flights happen almost everyday. The article did not state exactly what the emergency was only that because of bad weather the pilot diverted to Minot International instead of trying to return to Minot AFB.