Pilot narrowly avoids ‘midair collision’ with US air force plane near Venezuela | US news

A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid a collision with a U.S. air force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing its path.

“We almost collided in the air here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his call with air traffic control. “They crossed directly into our flight path… Their transponders are not on, that’s outrageous.”

The incident involved JetBlue Flight 1112 en route from Curaçao, just off the coast of Venezuela, to New York City’s JFK airport. This comes as the US military launches deadly airstrikes on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and also seeks to increase pressure on the Venezuelan government.

“There was just passing traffic directly in front of us at a distance of 5 miles (maybe 2 or 3 miles), but it was a US air force air-to-air refueler and it was at our altitude,” the pilot said. “We had to stop our climb.” The pilot said that the US air force plane then headed towards Venezuelan airspace.

JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski said Sunday: “We have reported this incident to federal authorities and will participate in any investigation.” He added: “Our crew members are trained in appropriate procedures for a variety of flight situations and we thank our crew for immediately reporting this situation to our leadership team.”

The Pentagon referred The Associated Press to the air force for comment. The air force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Federal Aviation Administration last month issued a warning to U.S. aircraft urging them to “exercise caution” while in Venezuelan airspace “due to the deteriorating security situation and increased military activity in or around Venezuela.”

According to air traffic records, the controller replied to the pilot: “It was a disgrace to have unidentified aircraft in our air.”