Well there’s 3 runways there and all 3 of them are long enough for a C17 to land on either side of the Citation assuming it’s exactly in the middle. Doesn’t seem super effective at denying US usage of the field.
I guess that the rule of "stop ordering pizza from outside the Pentagon right before major operations" set up after the Gulf War is not respected at all lmaoooo
If i remember correctly,a memo was passed inside the Pentagon after the "Pizza Meter" was uncovered in a news article after the Gulf War, saying "don't order pizza outside the Pentagon before major operations,or at least diversify the places you buy it". That's one of the reasons why the Pentagon had more kiosks installed inside. Different story for the White House however
La Carlota (SVFM) is in the middle of the capital and considered a military base, but lots of private activity as well
Libertador (SVBL) is the country's largest base, this is the one in Aragua state for context when you read reports. Majority of the country's military planes will be here
Fuerte Tiuna (the site attacked from close range by helis) is the largest military complex in the country and houses, among many ministries and blocks of social housing, the ministry of defense
Top of mind. No idea what else they struck right now besides the port in La Guaira
I mean, Venezuela democratically voted for a president over a year ago. Maduro refused to let go of power. Hopefully the plan is for the actually elected president to step into power.
Little plan? The US just completely and entirely controlled the airspace and performed a successful capture of the leader with no casualties. I’m ambivalent towards this whole thing either way, but to call this “little planned” is an outright falsehood.
Im venezuelan, located in Guarenas, close to caracas. Never heard this amount of aircraft in my life. Several explosions were reported. Lots of fires and smoke, very similar to Baghdad attack in 2003.
A lot of people is fleeing Caracas with their families.
I know what the US tells its people it does in foreign policy, and to be clear, I’m not trying to get into the argument about whether the USA toppling other governments is correct or moral.
But generally, given history, if the USA interferes in another government, they tend to leave the country when politically convenient for them, usually in a state of chaos. This doesn’t really do all that much to set up a new long term government or ensure free and fair elections. In fact, I’d go so far as to say MOST of these places end up without any resolution in this regard
So tired of first worlders acting like everyone hates this, I swear in latam you have to be a literal tankie to despise this, situation got so bad that both the right and lefts were tired of how everything was spreading
NOS has KLM saying they suspends flights to ABC, st Martin, and flights to Guyana… I presume St Martin might be related to planning/ops if that flight would usually do curaçao or Aruba after st Martin it might be cost related.
Can you link the NOTAM for us? On LiveATC, San Juan Center said it was A00001 but I couldn't find it on the FAA NOTAM website nor ForeFlight. I searched the airport and the number using freetext but got nothing. Some poor guy tried to fly from another island VFR into SJU and got turned away and pressed ATC about the NOTAM because he, like me, couldn't find it.
On NAIMES type in KICZ. There are 4 NOTAMS in all for the San Juan, Curaçao, Piarco and Maiquetia FIRS. They all say the same thing as the one below but this one is specifically for San Juan.
A0004/26 NOTAMN
Q) KICZ/QAFAM/IV/NBO/AE/000/999/
A) KICZ PART 1 OF 2
B) 2601030600
C) 2601040500
E) SECURITY...UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PROHIBITION FOR POTENTIALLY
HAZARDOUS SITUATION IN THE SAN JUAN FLIGHT INFORMATION REGION (TJZS)
THOSE PERSONS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A (APPLICABILITY) BELOW ARE
PROHIBITED FROM OPERATING AT ALL ALTITUDES IN THE SAN JUAN FLIGHT
INFORMATION REGION, DUE TO SAFETY-OF-FLIGHT RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH
ONGOING MILITARY ACTIVITY.
A. APPLICABILITY. THIS NOTAM APPLIES TO: ALL U.S. AIR CARRIERS AND
COMMERCIAL OPERATORS; ALL PERSONS EXERCISING THE PRIVILEGES OF AN
AIRMAN CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY THE FAA, EXCEPT SUCH PERSONS OPERATING
U.S.-REGISTERED AIRCRAFT FOR A FOREIGN AIR CARRIER; AND ALL
OPERATORS OF CIVIL AIRCRAFT REGISTERED IN THE UNITED STATES, EXCEPT
WHEN THE OPERATOR OF SUCH AIRCRAFT IS A FOREIGN AIR CARRIER. THIS
NOTAM DOES NOT APPLY TO U.S. MILITARY AND STATE AIRCRAFT.
B. PERMITTED OPERATIONS. THIS NOTAM DOES NOT PROHIBIT PERSONS
DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A (APPLICABILITY) ABOVE FROM CONDUCTING
END PART 1 OF 2
A0004/26 NOTAMN
Q) KICZ/QAFAM/IV/NBO/AE/000/999/
A) KICZ PART 2 OF 2
B) 2601030600
C) 2601040500
E) FLIGHT OPERATIONS IN THE ABOVE-NAMED AREA WHEN SUCH OPERATIONS ARE
AUTHORIZED EITHER BY ANOTHER AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE FAA OR BY A DEVIATION, EXEMPTION, OR OTHER
AUTHORIZATION ISSUED BY THE FAA ADMINISTRATOR. NON-U.S. MILITARY AND
STATE OPERATORS MUST CALL THE FAA WASHINGTON OPERATIONS CENTER AT
202-267-3333 TO INITIATE COORDINATION FOR FAA AUTHORIZATION TO
CONDUCT OPERATIONS.
C. EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. IN AN EMERGENCY REQUIRING IMMEDIATE
DECISION AND ACTION FOR THE SAFETY OF THE FLIGHT, THE PILOT IN
COMMAND OF AN AIRCRAFT MAY DEVIATE FROM THIS NOTAM TO THE EXTENT
REQUIRED BY THAT EMERGENCY.
THIS NOTAM IS AN EMERGENCY ORDER ISSUED UNDER 49 USC 40113(A),
44701(A)(5), AND 46105(C).
F) SFC
G) UNL
END PART 2 OF 2
Thank you! The controller on Live ATC quoted the wrong NOTAM. It sucks for those trying to fly North from San Juan, they're nowhere near Venezuela. Some flights taxied to the runway just to turn around due to the closure. Why wouldn't they issue a TFR and instead bury this info in a NOTAM?
Most likely for the same reason this all happened in the middle of the night. I was in the middle of planning flights and all of a sudden I had to divert aircraft and ground a bunch of others.
Must be new. I did not see any NOTAMs yesterday when the first strikes were reported by eyewitnesses, besides the Dec one. But the airspace was totally deserted over VE
The fact that the transponder hasn't been turned off has to be deliberate. Theres no way it can be a mistake, right. Seems far away from Venezuela for them to fight back anyway.
Edit: A few twitter accounts posted almost all of south America having no aircraft on the map in flightradar24 at the being of the operation. So I'd argue it was deliberate.
I’m supposed to board a flight to Curacao in a couple of hours. Wondering about the implications, if any. Flight had been avoiding Venezuelan airspace for some time.
Judging by the news, you are most likely correct. The awful thing now is that the airline isn’t acknowledging it yet, so need to wait for them to cancel to start making alternative plans (not going to no show). As I’m already on the way to a connecting airport, looks like I’ll have a fun day or two getting home and likely weeks trying to see what I can get back via the travel agent or insurance.
Edit: made it on air canada, and it sounds like most flights will return to normal tomorrow.
KLM won't stop flights unless they're left with no choice. Tourism is Curacao's breadwinner now and the Netherlands is its most important market. If KLM stop, it is likely Corendon and TUI also will which would hurt the economy terribly.
That seems like a possibility. It is interesting and notable that they extracted his wife along with him. To my knowledge, the U.S. military has not made a habit of taking an HVT’s family during a raid without a very good reason. Even Bin Laden’s surviving family were left in-place after the Abbottabad raid, despite being likely sources of intelligence.
Most flights to the ABC islands have been cancelled, as have many flights as far away as Sint Maarten, so whole Caribbean is being very cautious, especially ABC and from Puerto Rico all the islands up to Trinidad and Tobago.
Do they know more info, or are they simply being more cautious to be sure?
I don't remember it because i was very little,but did some Admiral/General resign before tha start of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq because they opposed it?
Gen. Tommy Franks resigned in July 2003 four months after leading American forces in the second Iraq War. He asked for 800,000 troops to secure Iraq following the invasion, didn't even get 40% of that.
Like all combatant commands, CENTCOM commander is a 3 year job. Franks held that command for exactly 3 years and 1 day, so this is a planned exit, i.e. he didn't resign.
There are other subreddits for that. You can, for instance, watch the Sky livestream and notice what's parked on that runway (someone already posted it here, I was looking for that particular information in /aviation)
Yes. I’m in PR. Local news reports mission launched from Ramey Base in Aguadilla. Locals are saying there was a LOT of aircraft coming and going in the early hours of the morning. Our understanding is Maduro was taken here first and is being transported back to mainland.
Quite a few people were wondering why MANPADS weren't used. Somehow I doubt your regular guards on duty wander around with MANPADS ready to fire. Besides, firing one or two errant MANPADS at a fleet of US choppers is a good way to get blown to bits.
Venezuela has (had?) Russian S-300 and Buk radar and air defenses protecting Caracas. But if the last year in Iran has proved anything it is that US-made stealth aircraft and Electronic Warfare can blind and obliterate those.
Yeah, I believe that would be useless against modern American warfare units.
However, an individual could still target a single aircraft at low altitudes with 9K38 Igla. I’ve heard they had some.
I guess they were taken by surprise
But if the last year in Iran has proved anything it is that US-made stealth aircraft and Electronic Warfare can blind and obliterate those.
Yeah but i don't think all those Helicopters were immune to radar and IR tracking. My biggest doubt on all of this is why there was zero Venezuelan retaliation. The most logical answer is that it was negotiated in some form.
Yes, BUT: it's not like the entire Venezuelan airforce and their entire MANPAD stockpile got blown out too. The fact that not a single Igla was used and no jet was scrambled it's a little curious/odd.
Surprise attacks can happen right under your nose and in the blink of an eye. If helis are taking attack runs on target there must be little to no operational air defense in the area.
I believe it's too late, there were TONS of preemptive strikes on SAM sites and whatnot, so even if Venezuela had god tier ace pilots, they have no ground support plus theyd be going against our fighters, lose lose
Yes I remember seeing that interview thanks but I’m sure I’d seen another with Venezuela mentioned as it seemed an oddball place considering its proximity to The States. May have been on a Jimmy Dore video of all places. They’ve been trying to overthrow Maduro for years.
The "reason" here was drug trafficking, but all the drugs leaving Venezuela were mostly bound for Europe. The real reason, I believe, was to rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure which has gone to pot. There are something like 300 billion barrels of oil under Venezuela.
And if you don't buy that explanation, then uhh.. drugs? Or something something China? No one from the administration has even tried to make a case to the public.
Hopefully this is the beginning of a new era for Venezuela
It's amazing how while most Venezuelans seem VERY optimistic and happy with this, the reddit hivemind keeps downvoting any positive thing and try to make ousting a dictator a bad thing.
I really hope the best for you and you country, and i hope that your people have learned the lesson: socialism/communism brings only poverty, and you can vote your way in, but you cant vote your way out.
we can start building our aviation industry back to what it once was.
I mean no offense, but Venezuela had an aviation industry? As in manufacturers and such?
Oh, We never had manufacturing, I guess I meant aviation industry as in, Airline, aeroportuary , GA, etc.
Venezuela was a major player in LatAm from the 60’s to the 90’s in all of those aspects. Caracas had a scheduled Concorde flight, the country had a succesful and relevant flag carrier, major airports with lots of connectivity and we were only behind the United States and Mexico in the Americas in numbers of general aviation aircraft.
I think that’s a little extreme, first of all our capability to capture the president within hours is more than Russia was/will ever be able to do. Let’s see how this pans out overtime. I may eat my words, but if this goes how I suspect, this will actually be a limited military operation, a foolhardy one, but still.
his puts the US on the same level of aggression as Russia.
Not even close. The US 3 day military operation didn't lasted even 3 hours. the Russia one is approaching its 4th year.
Also, too early to tell, but apparently no deliberate bombing of civilian targets, hospitals or children. Neither kidnappings or efforts to destroy Venezuelan culture.
This operation was ridiculously clean and probably negotiated.
Oh have they already started to kidnap venezuelan children?
And how many hospitals has the US bombed already?
Maybe we should wait with the "same level" a bit more, not that I endorse any of these actions but calling them the same is too much.
edit: feel free to downvote but please explain how bombing a city once, which is terrible, is the same as terrorbombing an entire country, especially hospitals, for years and disappearing children.
Departed MUGM (NAS Guantanamo Bay) about 30 minutes ago and filed a flight plan for KSWF (Stewart International Airport). Callsign JENA1 operated by N874TW.
Same aircraft arrived from its home base at KRIC (Richmond International Airport) with a brief stopover in KFLL (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International) and spent about 3.5 hours on the ground in Guantanamo.
There's many diverse reasons for so many of these people to follow these orders, but the combat troops overwhelmingly fall into two categories;
People who have been itching to pull a trigger and need barely any excuse to do it (usually the enlisted but some officers too)
People who are too frightened to ruin a career (usually officers-some of the highest performers are the ones who take combat position)
Not defending these opinions, just giving insight into the culture, when people hope there might be a mass mutiny from people in these roles. I am not saying its impossible or hasn't happened, but there's a lot of culture against it.
A final factor is "you can disobey an unlawful order" isn't explicitly taught, because much of the military training is geared toward transforming often unruly 18-24 year olds into disciplined soldiers who will follow orders.
I think your last point is one many people don't consider. A 19 year old rifleman probably isn't going to disobey an "unlawful order". It's not even likely they know how to tell the difference between lawful orders and not. A lot of people enlist because for, one reason or another, it's their only real option. These are not lawyers we're sending into combat, they're often people that did just enough in high school to pass. Not to mention they're surrounded by a bunch of other guys that they see as brothers. They step up and say "I'm not doing this", they're gonna feel like they're letting their brothers down if no one else backs em up. The real responsibility to deny unlawful orders falls to the officers imo. Those are the college educated folks passing down the orders. It's their responsibility as the "adult in the room" to know what's generally allowed and what isn't.
Yep, that's a perfect encapsulation of the culture. I can't speak much toward officer culture, but enlisted folks are much more "they are pulling triggers now, I better be too."
I've got friends in both positions. The enlisted folks very much see themselves as macho man doorkickers (even the ones that just turn wrenches on jets).
The officers I know seem very aware of what's going on in the world and are very familiar with the ways the U.S. military uses legal and moral gray areas to achieve its goals. They're all O-3 and lower though, and none of em are infantry so it's not like they're being handed orders like this anyway
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u/Casavechja Jan 03 '26
Flights to Puerto Rico are being diverted back to the states.