A JetBlue flight from the small Caribbean nation of Curaçao halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a US air force refueling tanker on Friday, and the pilot blamed the military plane for crossing his path.
“We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, according to a recording of his conversation with air traffic control. “They passed directly in our flight path … They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.”
That’s not what the JetBlue pilot said
The JetBlue pilot has no idea what the other crew was doing. The military flies due regard all the time and when they do, it is on them to deconflict with traffic. The JetBlue pilot might have been surprised by them but they almost certainly weren’t surprised by JetBlue and would have deviated if it actually got close.