Another US Air Force tanker narrowly avoids midair collision near Venezuela
Near collision over Caribbean airspace alarms pilots as US Air Force tanker crosses flight path of private jet.
Pilots of a private jet narrowly avoided a collision with a US Air Force refuelling tanker near Venezuela on Saturday, CNN reported on Tuesday.
The Falcon 900EX business jet, flying from the Caribbean island of Aruba to Miami, alerted air traffic controllers on the island of Curacao shortly after the near-miss, according to audio obtained by LiveATC.net.
At around 26,000 feet (7,925 metres), one pilot described the encounter as dangerously close, noting the aircraft was climbing directly toward a large plane that resembled a wide-body jet, possibly a Boeing 777 or 767.
The incident comes just two days after a similar near-collision in the same region, amid a US military buildup in the Caribbean and President Donald Trump’s hints that military action against Venezuela could be imminent.
On Friday, pilots of JetBlue Flight 1112 from Curacao to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport said they were forced to abruptly stop their climb after a US Air Force aerial refuelling tanker crossed directly in front of their flight path with its position-reporting transponder switched off.
US Southern Command told CNN that it was aware of recent reports concerning US military aircraft operations in the Caribbean and was reviewing the matter.
Curacao, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, lies about 40 miles north of Venezuela’s coast, and the Dutch Safety Board said it was aware of the incident in the island’s airspace.