An American airline plane JetBlue coming from Curacaoone of the islands of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela, stopped its rise to avoid a “collision” with a US Air Force refueling tanker aircraft on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path, according to local media reports this Sunday.
“We almost had a mid-air collision”the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control leaked to the media.
According to the pilot, the tanker crossed the flight path of JetBlue Flight 1112 with destination to JFK airport in New York.
“It passed directly in front of us less than five miles (about 8 kilometers), maybe two or three miles, it was a United States Air Force aerial refueling plane. And it was at our altitude. We had to stop our climb“said the pilot in the recording.
JetBlue spokesperson Derek Dombrowski He said he had informed “the federal authorities” this Sunday.
Since last summer, the Pentagon maintains a huge military deployment in Caribbean waters to destroy boats that according to the Government transport drugs and belong to networks in which the Venezuelan Executive and Army are involved.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last month issued a warning to U.S. aircraft, urging them to “extreme caution” when flying over Venezuelan airspace“due to the worsening security situation and increased military activity in or around Venezuela.”