WASHINGTON – A JetBlue aircraft originating from Curaçao, a small Caribbean nation, was forced to interrupt its climb to evade a potential collision with a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker on Friday. The JetBlue pilot attributed the near miss to the military plane unexpectedly entering the plane’s path.

“We almost experienced a midair collision,” the JetBlue pilot reportedly told air traffic control, as captured in an audio recording. “They flew directly across our intended route… It’s outrageous that they don’t have their transponder activated.”

This incident involved JetBlue Flight 1112, which had departed from Curaçao, an island near Venezuela, and was headed to New York City’s JFK airport. The event occurred amidst heightened U.S. military operations in the Caribbean, aimed at drug interdiction and applying pressure on Venezuela’s government.

“An aircraft passed directly in front of us, within a range of 5 miles — possibly as close as 2 or 3 miles,” the pilot recounted. “It was a U.S. Air Force aerial refueler at our altitude, forcing us to halt our ascent.” He further noted that the military aircraft proceeded towards Venezuelan airspace.

Derek Dombrowski, a JetBlue spokesperson, stated on Sunday, “We have notified federal authorities about this incident and will cooperate with any ensuing investigation.” He emphasized, “Our crew is well-trained for diverse flight scenarios, and we commend them for swiftly reporting this situation to our leadership.”

The Pentagon referred The Associated Press to the Air Force for comment. The Air Force didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Federal Aviation Administration last month issued a warning to U.S. aircraft urging them to “exercise caution” when in Venezuelan airspace, “due to the worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela.”

According to the air traffic recording, the controller responded to the pilot, “It has been outrageous with the unidentified aircraft within our air.”

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Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.