A JetBlue passenger jet bound for New York took evasive action on Friday to avoid a mid-air collision with a U.S. Air Force tanker plane near Venezuela, a pilot said in an air traffic control recording, Reuters reports.
JetBlue Flight 1112 had departed the Caribbean nation of Curacao and was flying about 64 km off the coast of Venezuela when the Airbus A320 reported encountering the Air Force jet, which did not have its transponder activated, according to the recording captured by liveatc.net.
The Air Force pilot was within a few miles of the plane and at the same altitude, the JetBlue pilot said on the recording.
“They passed directly in our flight path… They don’t have their transponder turned on. It’s outrageous,” the pilot said.
The Air Force jet then entered Venezuelan airspace, the JetBlue pilot said. “We almost had a mid-air collision up here.”
