A JetBlue flight had an extremely close call with a US Air Force refueling tanker last Friday. The flight came close to colliding with the military aircraft.
The JetBlue flight had to halt its ascent. Now, the pilot is calling out the military aircraft for its outrageous and dangerous behavior. The inicent happened near Venezuela.
"We almost had a midair collision up here," the pilot of JetBlue Flight 1112 told local air traffic control. The JetBlue flight had been New York bound. "They passed directly in our flight path. ... They don't have their transponder turned on, it's outrageous."
The pilot also added, "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. We had to stop our climb."
JetBlue Almost Crashes
The air traffic controller was sympathetic to the pilot.
"It has been outrageous with the unidentified aircraft within our air," a controller responded.
This comes after a devastating plane crash at Ronald Reagan Airport that killed everyone on board. That plane had collided with an Army helicopter in the area. The US military has been conducting more than two dozen strikes on potential drug-trafficking boats in the region.
Following the incident, the airline spoke out about the almost-incident with the Air Force aircraft.
"We have reported this incident to federal authorities and will participate in any investigation," said Derek Dombrowski, a spokesman for JetBlue. "Our crewmembers are trained on proper procedures for various flight situations, and we appreciate our crew for promptly reporting this situation to our leadership team."
So far, the Air Force and Pentagon have not responded to the incident. However, the Federal Aviation Administration advised commercial crafts to practice increase caution in Venezuela. The organization noted "worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela" in the area.
