A near collision between a JetBlue commercial flight and US Air Force refuelling tanker near Venezuela is under review, US Southern Command told media on Monday.
The passenger plane originating out of Curaçao halted its ascent in order to avoid hitting the military aircraft.
The exact distance between the two planes remains unclear because the Air Force plane’s transponder – a device that transmits location information to air traffic controllers – was not on.
JetBlue said in a statement to the BBC that its flight crew reported the incident to airline leadership and the carrier “will participate in any investigation”.
The JetBlue plane was flying from Curacao, an island just off the coast of Venezuela, to New York City’s JFK airport.
“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said on a recording. “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 five miles of us — maybe two or three 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.
In a statement to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, a spokesperson said the Air Force is aware of the incident and is currently reviewing the matter.
“Military aircrews are highly trained professionals who operate in accordance with established procedures and applicable airspace requirements,” the spokesperson said. “Safety remains a top priority, and we are working through the appropriate channels to assess the facts surrounding the situation.”
The incident comes after a warning from the Federal Aviation Administration last month to US aircraft urging them to “exercise caution” when in Venezuelan airspace, “due to the worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela”.
