On Friday, JetBlue Flight 1112 was forced to abruptly halt its ascent from the Caribbean nation of Curacao. The reason was a U.S. Air Force air-to-air refuelling tanker that crossed directly into its flight path.
The military aircraft passed dangerously close to the passenger jet. According to the JetBlue pilot, the tanker was “within 5 miles [8km] of us – maybe 2 or 3 miles [3 or 5km]”. In the high-speed environment of air travel, this is an alarmingly narrow margin. The pilot’s immediate radio call to air traffic control captured the gravity of the situation.
“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control.
The most serious accusation from the JetBlue pilot was that the military aircraft was operating without its transponder. A transponder is a critical piece of safety equipment that automatically broadcasts an aircraft’s identity, altitude, and location to air traffic controllers and other nearby planes. It is the primary tool used in the modern era to prevent mid-air collisions.
By allegedly flying without this system active, the military tanker was effectively invisible to the collision avoidance systems on the JetBlue airliner. The pilot’s frustration and disbelief were evident in his report.
“They passed directly in our flight path… They don’t have their transponder turned on. It’s outrageous.”
This near-miss occurred amidst a backdrop of heightened U.S. military activity in the Caribbean, reportedly for drug interdiction and to increase pressure on the Venezuelan government. The context was underscored by a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warning issued just last month, advising aircraft to “exercise caution” near Venezuela “due to the worsening security situation and heightened military activity”.