A JetBlue flight departing from the Dutch Carribbean island of Curacao bound for New York’s JFK was forced to halt its ascent on Friday after it nearly collided with a US Air Force tanker supporting patrols off the coast of Venezuela, the AP reports on what sounds like another near-DEI disaster.
“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot told Curacao air traffic control “They passed directly in our flight path… They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”
“We just had traffic pass directly in front of us within 5 miles of us – maybe 2 or 3 miles – but it was an air-to air-refueler from the United States Air Force and he was at our altitude,” the pilot continued. “We had to stop our climb.” The pilot said the Air Force plane then headed into Venezuelan air space, per the recording. No comment from the Pentagon in the AP’s article.