Another near collision between a civilian and a military aircraft occurred in the airspace above Curaçao on Saturday. That reports NOS Monday based on audio recordings from air traffic control. “I don’t know how we didn’t get a collision warning, because they were really close,” one of the pilots told air traffic control.
Also on Friday, a passenger plane en route from Curaçao to New York almost collided with an American military aircraft. The military aircraft was not visible on radar. It is not yet clear whether it was also an American aircraft on Saturday – the type of military aircraft has not yet been determined.
The distance between the aircraft would again have been very small on Saturday. “We climbed straight towards that other aircraft,” says the pilot in the NOS audio recording. In both cases, air traffic control managed to intervene at the last minute by adjusting the course instructions.
Tensions in the Caribbean
The incidents take place against the backdrop of an increasing US military presence in the Caribbean. US President Donald Trump is strongly opposed to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying drug smuggling from Venezuela poses a threat to the national security of the United States. There are fears in the region that the US will eventually intervene militarily on land.
The US has intervened several times at sea in recent weeks: the US Coast Guard recently armed an oil tanker that was said to have been on its way from Venezuela to Cuba. In Venezuela they say that the Americans are mainly after the large oil reserves of the country that has 17 percent of global reserves.
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