A JetBlue flight traveling to John F. Kennedy Airport nearly struck a U.S. Air Force plane off the coast of Venezuela, authorities confirmed Monday.
JetBlue Flight 1112 from Curacao to JFK came within a few miles of the Air Force refueling aircraft on Friday night.
“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the pilot said, according to cockpit voice recordings. “They passed directly in our flight path. … They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”
Curacao is just off the northern coast of Venezuela, and the JetBlue pilot said the Air Force plane continued into Venezuela. President Trump’s administration has stepped up the U.S. military presence in and around Venezuela to put pressure on the country’s government to limit drug trafficking.
During the exchange, the air traffic controller responded to the pilot, “It has been outrageous with the unidentified aircraft within our air.”
JetBlue confirmed the incident Sunday, while U.S. Southern Command added Monday that it was investigating the near collision.
The incident echoed a January 2025 disaster in Washington, D.C., when a U.S. Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight in midair over the Potomac River, killing all 67 people on board the two aircraft.
“We just had traffic pass directly in front of us within 5 miles of us — maybe 2 or 3 miles — but it was an air-to air-refueler from the United States Air Force and he was at our altitude,” the JetBlue pilot said. “We had to stop our climb.”
With News Wire Services
