US military plane and JetBlue flight nearly collided over Caribbean, radio traffic shows
After determining the type of plane he encountered, the JetBlue pilot said to the air traffic controller, “Their transponders are not on, this is ugly.” “We almost collided in the air here.”
The radio broadcasts detail the experience of JetBlue Flight 1112, which was bound for New York after departing Curaçao, a small island in the Southern Caribbean about 40 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Twenty minutes after takeoff, the plane suddenly stabilized mid-climb, according to flight tracking data. On the radio, the JetBlue pilot said he had to stop the plane’s ascent to cruising altitude to avoid a collision with the tanker.
It is unclear whether the pilot saw the military plane with his own eyes or was alerted by a sensor on the plane. He told the air traffic controller in Curaçao that the tanker was only 2 or 3 miles away, meaning the flight time at his speed was less than 20 seconds.
The air traffic controller also claimed that he could not see the tanker on the radar screen, but that the unknown military plane was part of a trend. “They behaved very ugly with unidentified aircraft in our airspace,” the controller told the pilot.
Just one day later, on Saturday night, air traffic controllers in Curaçao told at least three pilots, including American Airlines and Delta Air Lines pilots, to be aware of unidentified aircraft around them; This suggests that other planes were flying without their transponders. The recordings were posted on LiveATC.net, a website that broadcasts radio broadcasts from air traffic control towers around the world, and on social media by radio enthusiasts.
The skies over the Caribbean have become increasingly crowded in recent weeks as the US military has sent more planes and equipment to the region as part of military reinforcements against Venezuela. Elsewhere in the Caribbean, military aircraft fly missions from Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford deployed to the region. JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski told The New York Times: “We have reported this incident to federal authorities and will participate in any investigation.” Flight tracking data shows that the JetBlue plane resumed its climb within minutes of the incident and landed in New York City without further problems.
Col. Manny Ortiz, a spokesman for the Army’s Southern Command, said they were “aware of recent reports regarding U.S. military aircraft operations in the Caribbean and are currently reviewing the matter.” “Safety remains a top priority and we are working through appropriate channels to assess the facts surrounding the situation,” he added.
Since the tanker did not report its location, it is not possible to know for sure where it was flying. But the JetBlue pilot told the controller that the tanker was flying northeast toward Venezuelan-administered airspace.
Last weekend, additional Air Force tankers — large jets that can refuel other planes in flight — arrived in the Dominican Republic as part of an agreement that allows the United States to use the country’s territory to combat drug trafficking. Since early September, the United States has launched a series of airstrikes on boats it says were carrying drugs, killing more than 80 people. While a wide range of experts describe these attacks as illegal, the US government denies this.
In November, the Curaçao Civil Aviation Authority issued a warning asking pilots to “exercise extreme caution” when flying to or from the country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The message stated that pilots and radars frequently reported “unidentified aircraft” flying in the country’s airspace. It is unclear whether all of these unidentified planes belong to the US military, but the near-collision on Friday occurred in the area covered by the alert.
The tanker’s mission was also unclear; Flight tracking data shows that several other U.S. military aircraft were also flying in the area in the hours before the near collision and publicly disclosed their locations. It is possible that the tanker could refuel these planes, but the military did not respond to questions about why the tanker was not visible and why other planes were visible.
This article was first published in The New York Times.
