A JetBlue pilot reported a near mid-air collision after departing the Caribbean… and it was with a US Air Force jet!
Continue reading: JetBlue A320 & “Invisible” US Air Force Jet Have “Outrageous” Close Call
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The US Airforce doesn't seem to care about the risk. It happened again on Saturday, which might have even been closer. Just waiting for an accident to happen, after which Trump and Hegseth will blame ATC and pilots.
This is what happens when you let the military do whatever the heck they want. Just like it happens in Russia all the time.
In an age where dash cams in cars are increasingly prevalent, this incident, and others, makes me wonder why civilian aircraft do not have an aircraft equivalent of a dash cam installed. Does anyone know the logic behind this?
Wow that its very concerning with the transponder turned off the plane alert system TCAS don't work so you rely on visual to see traffic has this been at night with much less visibilty this could had been much worse 3-5 miles distance its not a lot at the speed planes fly that its covered in just seconds.
There was already a second incident. A day later involving a private jet and a tanker. Sounds scary, I wouldn’t want to take off from any of these airports these days. Also crazy that there isn’t at least a notification from the air force that they are active in the area.
https://nltimes.nl/2025/12/15/two-near-collisions-military-civil-aircraft-curacao-airspace
On the right side of the pond, it is the responsibility of the military aircraft ’going dark’, to avoid commercial and private air traffic.
A clear case of a failure on the part of the U.S. military, full stop!
AT LEAST NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT DONALD JOHN TRUMP BEING A PEDOPHILE UNDER EPSTEINS WINGS
The US President has posted a warning on social media that airplanes should stay away from the vicinity of Venezuela. JetBlue has chosen to ignore that warning and continue operations to countries that are near the potential conflict zone for commercial reasons. Choices have consequences.
Well AeroDink, I do believe for the first time ever that I actually agree with you! NICE!
And, get this, if there had been a midair collision, we know how this administration would’ve handled it…
For those who forgot AA5342… Trump would likely just blame ‘DEI’ to distract from any investigation of his own DoD’s failures, and not provide any meaningful assistance to victims or their families. And later threaten the NTSB director for her lack of sycophancy when she objects to resuming helicopter flights in that area… *cough*
Sean M., wow, with your apparent talent of parroting propaganda I’m surprised Kagame didn’t like you… Get real, Curacao is not in Venezuelan airspace and is Dutch territory; this is moreso the US military being reckless than it is jetBlue defying our Dear Leader’s silly tweets.
Good day,
I am formally and officially urging and calling for restraint in this matter. Safety of Aviation and the travelling public is of paramount importance. I'm parallel, military Operations are essential (as is liberation of communist Venezuela), but must be conducted carefully and safely!
Rod
Curacao airspace is not Venezuelan airspace. It can also be reached directly from the US, without crossing Venezuelan airspace.
Totally false. The DemonKKKrats would have released everything incriminating 2021-2025 if there was anything. He didn't do anything wrong.
Sorry folks, just realized I replied to my own comment! This just resonated with me so much I had to agree. Then I realized the comment was initially posted by someone with a VERY BIG BRAIN (ME!)
Sean M., posting on social media isn't an appropriate forum and carries no official weight. Yes, choices have consequences. When the President commits war crimes, he should do so without endangering passenger planes.
But of course, people here have to make this political. Because of course Trump told the Air Force pilot to cut in front of a civilian aircraft.
Notwithstanding the root causes, the fact is that there is documented intelligence that military activity is taking place in the vicinity of Venezuela. JetBlue chose to operate to a neighbouring country despite this. Certainly, the USAF could have done better to mitigate potential conflicts, but lets not give JetBlue management a free pass here for making the choices they did to put crew and passengers in harms way.
Thanks Sean, that is a fair comment the more I think about it. Apologies for the insolence earlier.
Wait, something doesn't add up. An air-to-air refueler tanker is far from a stealth aircraft. So while it sounds like it had the ADSB-out transponder off, there's no way that it would not show up on true radar.
The controller said nothing was showing up on his "scope". So was the controller looking at some professional version of FlightRadar24? Or was it in fact radar and there was an old-school blip but no ADSB data box next to it?
Okay - one explanation would be if this was far enough out over water to be out of radar coverage range.
@Sean M.
While there may be "military activity" going on, it is not a war zone. The airspace is not closed, it isn't under military control, and all the military did was issue a NOTAM. Functionally, it's no different than if a commercial flight encounters USAF planes doing training over Colorado without closing the airspace. SOP in both cases is for the USAF aircraft, not the commercial flight, to maintain safe separation.
Yet again, I find it necessary to steal your all to often used phrase: ….
“Quiet piggy”, yes?
Rod, please fill the readership in on your post: has Trump actually declared war on “Communist Venezuela”?
You talk about “Liberation” have the world misses the Trump war machine starting gun?
Please do not make a habit of it as that 1990, will start calling you names darlink.
As this incident took place 300 miles north of Venezuela, the word "vicinity" is quite a stretch.
AIr Traffic Controllers almost never use primary radar and rely on transponders for information.
Not false or relevant, but ok, Jess.
If the victims want the details released, publicly, I don't care what party or however wealthy and influential, let's get them actual justice, however long it takes.
George, it is political; it was a political choice to escalate with Venezuela. Had this administration not chosen this (likely Rubio pushing this to get back at Cuba's regime), there wouldn't be a tanker down there. Calls like yours to not 'make this political' are more telling of your own opinions. Let folks say whatever they wanna say about this and everything else. Calls to censor are weak.
Other '1990,' naw, I (the O.G. 1990) still respectfully disagree with Sean M.'s take. If we applied his logic to routings in Africa, no airlines there would be able to operate much. As he used to run operations for an airline based in West Africa, he really should know better.
Seriously? The ABC islands are close to Venezuela with Aruba being 25 kms away. It’s a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. So the US is threatening the EU and a NATO state ? I doubt Trump even knows they exist. And you believe social media is the best place for official govt warnings ?? Are you going to inform KLM to cease operations? Trump falsely tells everyone he’s stopped wars whilst potentially starting another
@1990 - you're welcome to disagree. My opinion is not gospel by any means. However, if the JetBlue aircraft had been shot down accidently, or otherwise involved in an accident, you know that conventional wisdom would ask "why were they there in the first place?". Ergo QED.
@Simon - Civilian ATC almost always works from Secondary Surveillance Radar which is basically an older version of FR24 "Radar Mode".
Shouldn't there be military ATC to keep track of their aircraft and keep others away? It's wild they are conducting a military operation, but don't see aircraft approaching close to military aircraft as a threat. What if the plane was a Venezuelan aircraft pretending to be a JetBlue flight?
While I respect @Sean M. opinions.
I'd like to ask him about IR655 MH17 KAL007, did conventional wisdom ask "why were they there in the first place?". Ergo QED.
That's what they claim about "boats" probably less than 1/2 the size of A320.
They see it all, track it all.
There's probably more AWACS and UAVs in the area than anywhere else right now.
They see anything moving larger than the size of a car over the open sea.
Cmon George you're not 7 years old.
Haven't you learn. Everything down to your Willy size is political.
@Eskimo - Poor examples. In all three cases, the aircraft WERE in the wrong place at the wrong time - not necessarily their fault, but intelligence or communications breakdowns nonetheless. You are making the exact same point that I am.
To add, there was a second incident reported involving a US airforce aircraft and civilian falcon f900 on 13 December in curaçao airspace : https://nos.nl/l/2594652
It’s also in the NOTAMS. not than any of the experts here even know what that is.
A KC tanker is a 767 and would appear closer than it actually was from the vantage point of the jet blue pilots.
Let’s just ask the folks from the FDA to investigate while we are calling for irrelevant agencies to stick their finger in the pie. NOAA, want a crack at it?
@Sean M.
Poor arguments.
Then ICN should cease operations?
Your definition of 'wrong' might be 'wrong' or different than conventional wisdom.
QUIET! IATA and ICAO are International advocacy agencies for the aviation industry. They should completely be involved in any and all Investigations relevant to Aviation near-misses. Anyone who says otherwise is not only poorly informed, but an unintelligent blight on the industry!
What they are and what you think they should be are different. Lobby with them, not here.
Maybe for the ongoing Genocide that mad almost a THIRD of our population flee the country? spreading the worst of the Venezuelan gangs all over the region?. Maybe us who can value freedom? I can write you more and more reasons.
Thank you Sean M. as a tried and true known professional of the industry I value your unbiased opinion. As a Venezuelan (and also a professional in the industry btw) I totally agree. Even the greedy to the bone Copa Airlines had to stop flying to Venezuela only after the major pressure of the Pilos Associations.
Minerals, oil, and the fact they're acting a fool and they're in our backyard. Their election was rigged etc... I'm all for it as long as we don't bluff like we usually do. Tired of countries eating at our trough for free at my and your taxpayer expense. We make stuff happen...period. The rest of the world just watches.