Comment by _jzlw
3 days ago
"Outrageous" is an understatement. Why does it always seem like military aircraft get a free-pass to break FAA regulations, communicate with no one when in shared airspace, and endanger the lives of everyone in civilian aircraft without any repercussions? This isn't the first time something like this has happened, and it doesn't always end in a near-miss.
> military aircraft get a free-pass to break FAA regulations
Because FAA regulations literally do not apply to military aircraft. FAA regulates civilian aviation.
An aerial refueler flying so close to Venezuela [1] can't have been there with the best intentions. I don't think that they're too keen on advertising their presence or whereabouts.
I know that some here absolutely hate any suggestions that the US military is capable of any evil. But you're getting very sanitized news. Even otherwise, they have already murdered 80+ Venezuelan civilians in international waters and we don't even know if they were actually guilty of drug trafficking, since those were extra-judicial executions. And at least two of them were murdered in a double tap attack, which is an international war crime, regardless.
[1] It was Curaçao to be precise, but it's still oddly close to Venezuela.
> An aerial refueler flying so close to Venezuela can't have been there with the best intentions. I don't think that they're too keen on advertising their presence or whereabouts.
Which is precisely why they should avoid flying INTO civilian aircraft.
Imagine if that refueler had stayed away from the JetBlue, we wouldn't be talking about it ;-)
Absolutely agreed. But the midair collision that happened at the Ronald Reagan Intl airport (DCA) in Washington DC in February doesn't really give me the confidence that they care that much. Especially given how furious the senior NTSB official Jennifer Homendy was at both the military and the FAA.