A JetBlue passenger aircraft was forced to halt its ascent to avoid a collision with a United States Air Force refueling tanker in the Caribbean on Friday. JetBlue’s Flight 1112 from Curaçao, which is about 40 miles north of the coast of Venezuela, was departing for New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) when the pilot noted the presence of a US military aircraft crossing its flight path at 34,000 feet.

The type of tanker hasn’t been disclosed, but according to reports, it was operating without its transponder. The JetBlue aircraft was forced to halt its climb to make way for the tanker.

“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot stated, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control, per the Associated Press. “They passed directly in our flight path. … They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”

The US Air Force aerial refueler was........

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