There’s been a second incident involving a loss of separation with a U.S. Air Force tanker off the coast of Venezuela, this time involving a Falcon 900EX business jet. The bizjet had just taken off last Saturday from Oranjestad Queen Beatrix International Airport (Aruba) and headed for Miami–Opa Locka Executive Airport when air traffic control warned of an unidentified aircraft 10 miles ahead of them on a reciprocal course. ATC ordered a heading change for the business jet but inadvertently steered them to a direct collision course with what would appear to be a KC-46 tanker. “They were really close. I don’t know how we didn’t get an RA (Resolution Advisory) for them,” the Falcon pilot reported to ATC. “And you turned us right into them.” As we reported, a day earlier a JetBlue A320 crew reported a military tanker crossed in front of them with its transponder off in the same general area.
The controller said the crew of the unidentified aircraft “keep on turning irregular” and noted there was another plane on the business jet’s tail and closing. A few minutes later the Falcon was in the clear and headed to Miami for a normal landing. The bizjet pilot told the controller the opposing traffic was “something big, maybe like a 777, 76, something like that. It was a wide body.” He said the conflict happened at about 26,000 feet while the plane was heading for 38,000 feet and “we were climbing right into him.”
When not if.
The best anticollision tool is Eyeballs 2.0
Unless it’s at night and they are running dark.
I hope whatever we’re doing down there is worth it.
Worth “it”? What is the definition of “it”? So far the definition of record is that “it” is civilian airline traffic. What “down there” is worth a collision between a US Air Force aircraft and a civilian airliner?
Blockading a country is an act of war. Sending 20% of our military assets, including our largest nuke aircraft carrier to enforce this blockade is an act of war. Our President just announced he has decided to take our land, assets, and oil back??? from Venezuela??? He has decided that piracy is legal, since he decided to heavily sanction Venezuela’s oil exports confiscating both tanker and $60 million dollars of oil. Why the sanctions? He has decided Venezuela is a key supplier of illegal drugs, particularly fentynal. The US State Department, DEA,and FBI official websites says Venezuela does not. Our President has decided Venezuela’s oil is OUR oil. Our President has decided, he wants regime change of Venezuela including making the decision of who the replacement leader will be in spite of Venezuela’s citizens categorically rejecting our Presidents choice. Our President has decided that blowing up various boats including killing all the crew members aboard those boats ( even if that means performing a second strike on survivors) based on his decision they are narcotic traffickers, human traffickers, therefore threats to America’s national security. No arrests, no trial, no proof of nationality. Just execution carried out in international waters. Our President has decided not only Venezuela’s airspace is closed, but so is Cureaco’s ordering US Airforce tankers to go dark, within that airspace causing near misses with airliners and civil aircraft. Our Congress is silent. Our military leaders silent. Our citizens mostly silent. When is the President of the United States going rogue behaving like a dictator, making a personal decision of going to war, including making a sovereign nation a colony of the US by destroying it economy, executing people without trial, stealing its resources, replacing its government with his choice of puppet, and order our military to obey his unlawful orders…WRONG? At what point is there any worth morally, ethically and financially to justify war with Venezuela or any other sovereign nation initiated and ordered without debate or discussion by one man…US President Donald J. Trump? War! What is it good for? You tell me now! Absolutely nothing!
The collective silence of the US Congress, US military, and US citizenry is deafening! So is the silence of those KC-46’s too!