Radio transmissions reviewed by NCS present that the pilots of a personal jet narrowly averted a collision with a United States Air Force refueling tanker near Venezuela on Saturday – at some point after an identical incident close by.
The pilots of a Falcon 900EX enterprise jet flying from Aruba to Miami reported the near collision to air site visitors controllers in Curaçao shortly after the incident Saturday afternoon, based on audio captured by LiveATC.net.
“They were really close,” one of many pilots advised controllers of the encounter at roughly 26,000 toes. “We were climbing right into him,” the unidentified pilot stated. “It was big, maybe a 777 or a (767).”
NCS has reached out to the US Air Force and United States Southern Command for remark.
The incident marks the second reported near-collision near Venezuela in two days. On Friday, the pilots of JetBlue flight 1112 from Curaçao to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport radioed controllers that they have been pressured to abruptly cease their climb after a US Air Force aerial refueling tanker crossed straight in entrance of their flight path with its position-reporting transponder turned off.
The Pentagon and Dutch aviation officers say they’re reviewing the sooner JetBlue incident. In an announcement to NCS, United States Southern Command stated it was “aware of the recent reporting regarding US military aircraft operations in the Caribbean and (is) currently reviewing the matter.”
The National Transportation Safety Board advised NCS it was conscious of each incidents and was gathering data.
Curaçao lies about 40 miles north of the coast of Venezuela.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued an advisory final month warning US airways of heightened army exercise in any respect altitudes near Venezuela. On Tuesday, it repeated the warning.
“Threats could pose a potential risk to aircraft at all altitudes, including during overflight, the arrival and departure phases of flight, and/or airports and aircraft on the ground,” it stated.
Several worldwide airways canceled flights out of Venezuela following the FAA warning final month. On Tuesday, Copa Airlines stated it might prolong its suspension of flights to and from Caracas till January 15, “due to operational conditions at Maiquetía International Airport.”
Curaçao is a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Dutch Safety Board stated it was conscious of the incident in Curaçao’s airspace.