India, July 21 -- Tragedy was narrowly averted thanks to the quick reflexes and thinking of a Delta flight pilot who performed a go-around maneuver to avoid a mid-air collision with a US B-52 bomber.

The incident, on July 18, occurred during the plane's approach to Minot, North Dakota. The SkyWest-operated flight had departed from Minneapolis.

Once on the ground, the pilot apologized to passengers for the abrupt move, and explained what happened.

"Given his speed ... I don't know how fast they were going, but they were a lot faster than us, I felt it was the safest thing to do to turn behind it," the pilot said, as per a recording of the conversation, verified by NBC News.

"So sorry about the aggressive maneuver, it caught me by surpr...