JetBlue flight near Venezuela avoids 'midair collision' with U.S. Air Force tanker

[malaise]

https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/jetblue-air-force-venezuela-near-collision-20251214.html

WASHINGTON — A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.

“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. “They passed directly in our flight path. ... They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”

The incident involved JetBlue Flight 1112 from Curaçao, which is just off the coast of Venezuela, en route to New York City’s JFK airport. It comes as the U.S. military has stepped up its drug interdiction activities in the Caribbean and is also seeking to increase pressure on Venezuela’s government.

“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 said. “We had to stop our climb.” The pilot said the Air Force plane then headed into Venezuelan air space.

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Outrageous is kind.

[mainer]

1. Hegseth's military itching to cause another airline disaster

Anyone thinking about flying into Aruba, Curaçao or Bonaire is at the mercy of our insane war on Venezuela.

[malaise]

2. That was my first thought

We are all in danger with his video game approach to killing people

[mainer]

3. This was not the only near collision near Curacao

Dutch news reported two others recently:

The tensions between the United States and Venezuela are increasingly affecting the Dutch islands in the Caribbean. Over the weekend, there were two serious near-collisions in Curaçao airspace between civil aircraft and what is believed to be American military planes, NOS reports based on audio recordings from air traffic control. The incidents occurred on Friday and Saturday. Both involved a military tanker.

“I don’t know how we didn’t get a collision warning, because they were really close,” one clearly frightened pilot said to air traffic control after Saturday’s incident. “We were climbing straight towards that other aircraft.” Air traffic control intervened with immediate course corrections, instructing the plane to turn away and fly towards an avigation point to create distance. Air traffic control also warned of another plane only 8 miles away.

https://nltimes.nl/2025/12/15/two-near-collisions-military-civil-aircraft-curacao-airspace