A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a US air force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.
“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. “They passed directly in our flight path … They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”
No transponders makes you harder to target, but also increases the risk of an accedent, That’s fine, though - it’s not like somebody would deploy a sizeable force of military planes in a combat ready position, for an extended period, over a peacetime area, right? Right? /s
More superior performance from the Secretary of War (Crimes).
So when are the western nations going to speak out, condemn and discuss about sanctions against this like they do when CCP tries to threaten Taiwan near south China sea?
They aren’t hypocrites, are they?
Not at all, absolutely not because a child is sitting in the white house either.
Add it to the pile
Nothing will happen because it’s US military, but shame on those pilots because you know THEY saw the JetBlue coming their way, knew the route they’d take, and didn’t give a shit. They didn’t even have to say anything, just change course.
The US military has had many incidents where it was sloppy as shit. I wouldn’t completely write off the idea that they might just be a lot more incompetent than most people think.
That’s comforting that they could be that way and be running silent from ATC and other aircraft anywhere. What could go wrong?
It’s not just US aircraft. Most military aircraft have the ability to turn off their transponders. That’s kinda SOP when flying a mission.
The main difference with many US military aircraft is that they have a tiny radar cross sections, so ATC can’t “see” them, not just can’t “hear” them. That refuling plane should have shown on radar, transponder or not. That thing is literally about the size of three barns, not the nuclear physics kind, and literally can’t have much in the way of radar stealth the way the plane it was refueling probably had.
The other main difference here is that normally our joint chiefs, and secretary of defense
wardon’t have their head up their asses about OPSEC. Normally such an operation would have not come anywhere near civilian flight paths, but these assholes literally said that the troops should be “drawing fire.”Civilian aircraft can also turn off their transponders, not that it’s relevant.
ATC not having radar is not an issue, the US military most certainly had multiple radars in range. They could tell the tanker to divert way earlier. They wanted an incident.
As for normalcy, the US is part of a small group of countries that has shot down civilian airliners.
Most of the world doesn’t have decent primary radar, especially out over international waters like where this occurred. Likely just a low frequency radar that can say “yup, there’s something out there” but not “he is right there.” The world works on transponders.
Right. I actually don’t have an issue with them not having a transponder on. That was the least of the problems. But not being aware of standard traffic around an airport… come on.
What’s the average age of a military pilot
Knowing America…if I had to guess…probably not old enough to rent a car.
Well they have to be officers so, at bare minimum you’re probably looking at 21 if the pilot in question went through ROTC, and performed well enough academically to gain some grants or scholarships privately, and use the GI bill through the Air Force, or Navy. I really don’t remember if you can rent a car at 21, 23, or 25.
I would wager the average age of our pilots is probably closer to 24 or 25 than 21, maybe even closer to 29. Once you get that job, they tend to retire. Either early at a minimum of 12 years with limited pension, or at 20 years with a full pension. There really aren’t a lot of engagements in the air for us.
Technically 18 to rent a car, some states have it up to 21 I think, but most rental companies charge so much for under 25 it’s barely worth it.
I think that may have changed since I was that age. I remember trying to rent a car as a 20 year old, and being told that I was too young. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a car from a mate, and return it refuled and cleaned.
Or maybe Kentucky is the wrong state to rent a car in as a new adult.
Kentucky might be 21 minimum to rent a car. I know New York was as well.
Two near misses in Curaçao airspace already. Dangerous shit. This is reckless. If something happens, it’s 100% Trump’s fault.
Unfortunately, nobody will care til there’s a crash and even then, it might be old news in a week or two.
Well, the plane obviously contained narco-terrorists, so,Mission accomplished!
Hey, I care. Not that I matter though.
Worse, they would use it as pretext for “retaliatory” strikes.
Those are still coming, no doubt, but they’ll have a harder time spinning the story.
Kind of surprising to see this take after the 2025 elections.
It seems to me that watching a dozen or more former Trump districts lost to Democratic politicians is fairly good proof that people are dissatisfied with his leadership and governance, and the even wilder thing is that Donald’s aggression toward Venezuela has actually served to draw up some resistance in Congress. (So much so that both Donald and Hegseth are trying to establish a fall guy.)
You can’t really be serious. You think a few local elections have anything to do with Venezuela?
I got news for you. The USA has been attacking Venezuela since GWB was in office. Literally every president has done something against Venezuela since then. Most of it has been coup attempts and collective punishment to starve the Venezuelan people. But no one gives a shit because even Mamdani says shit like Venezuela is a dictatorship.
No, Americans are JUST fine with bloodshed as long as the president follows a narrative that makes the US look like heros.
krasnov trying to escalate by creating a false flag situation.
Nothing beats a JetBlue holiday…
Except for the USAF, it seems.
(yes I know the original is Jet2, not JetBlue)
Start shooting them down. We have zero legitimate business near Venezuela.
What, and justify a full invasion?
International zero tolerance policy: Punishing countries for defending themselves.
Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire are literally within sight of Venezuela. How do you expect them to function? This flight was connected to Curacao, not Venezuela. They can’t help being right next door.
America, fuck yeah.
So they were 3-ish, maybe 5 miles away with altitude separation over international water? That’s actually fairly routine.
That’s not what the JetBlue pilot said
The JetBlue pilot has no idea what the other crew was doing. The military flies due regard all the time and when they do, it is on them to deconflict with traffic. The JetBlue pilot might have been surprised by them but they almost certainly weren’t surprised by JetBlue and would have deviated if it actually got close.
Didn’t stop everyone having a good foam at the mouth over it tho, aye 😜
Pretty disappointing how few people really read the articles.
You’re right, totally normal for US military to be aggressively flying over Venezuela for no reason
They say if you want to read the news, you can always read a history book. Once again, relevance of abe simpson.
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