JetBlue Pilot Reports Near Midair Collision With Air Force Tanker Near Venezuela

A JetBlue flight leaving Curaçao stopped its climb on Friday to avoid a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker, and the pilot told air traffic controllers that the military plane crossed his flight path, according to CBS News and NBC News, which cited recordings of the radio exchange.

“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the pilot of JetBlue Flight 1112, bound for New York’s JFK airport, said in the audio. “They passed directly in our flight path.” He said the tanker was at the same altitude and passed within 5 miles of the plane, “maybe 2 or 3 miles.” “They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous,” he said. A controller replied that “it has been outrageous with the unidentified aircraft within our air,” CBS reported.

How close the planes actually came is unclear. CBS noted that, according to the flight-tracking service Flightradar24 and the pilot, the tanker was flying with its transponder off, which means air traffic controllers could not track it accurately. NBC added that no squawk code, the identifying signal a transponder sends, was used.

A U.S. official familiar with the incident told NBC that the tanker was within approved range of the JetBlue flight and that it is not uncommon for military aircraft to fly with transponders off. NBC explained that no one agency is primary over the airspace, so both the military and the Federal Aviation Administration could be following rules and still have an incident like this. The review is continuing.

JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski said the airline reported the incident to federal authorities and will take part in any investigation, adding that the crew promptly alerted leadership. An Air Force spokesperson told CBS the service is aware of the incident and reviewing it, saying aircrews “operate in accordance with established procedures and applicable airspace requirements.” U.S. Southern Command spokesperson Col. Manny Ortiz offered a similar statement, NBC reported: “Safety remains a top priority, and we are working through the appropriate channels to assess the facts surrounding the situation.”

The incident occurred amid a heavy U.S. military presence. NBC noted the administration has been striking alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The FAA last month warned U.S. aircraft to “exercise caution” in Venezuelan airspace because of the “worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela,” CBS reported.

The pilot said the Air Force plane then headed into Venezuelan airspace, CBS reported.