FAA Issues Urgent Warning for Pilots as Tensions Escalate Around Venezuela

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00:00FAA issues urgent warning for pilots as tensions escalate around Venezuela.

00:06The Federal Aviation Administration is urging pilots to use extreme caution when flying in or near Venezuelan airspace,

00:13citing a rapidly deteriorating security environment and increased military activity around the country.

00:19According to the Associated Press, in a notice published Friday,

00:23the FAA said the situation in Venezuela presents

00:26a potential risk to aircraft at all altitudes, including planes taking off, landing, or even parked on the ground.

00:33The agency did not specify the exact nature of the threats,

00:36but made clear that pilots should be alert to heightened danger.

00:40The warning comes at a time of intensifying pressure from the Trump administration on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

00:46The United States does not recognize Maduro as the country's legitimate leader

00:51and has repeatedly sought to isolate him on the world stage.

00:54He also faces narco-terrorism charges in the U.S.

00:58In recent months, the U.S. military has flown bomber aircraft close to Venezuela's coast,

01:03including in training exercises that simulate potential strikes.

01:07The Pentagon has also deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford and several destroyers,

01:11creating what officials call the largest American military presence in the Caribbean in a generation.

01:16At the same time, the administration has launched a broad campaign

01:20against small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, accused of smuggling drugs into the U.S.,

01:25resulting in more than 80 deaths since operations began in early September.

01:30Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the Department of Transportation,

01:35said such FAA notices are not unusual in zones of active or potential conflict.

01:40I wouldn't take it as necessarily there's any kind of attack is imminent because I've seen these issued many times before,

01:48Schiavo said, but as a pilot myself, I'd certainly heed it.

01:52Schiavo noted the warning could signal that the U.S. is preparing for possible Venezuelan military action

01:58or planning additional operations of its own targeting drug trafficking vessels.

02:02It's hard to read into this notice and know what is behind it, she added.

02:07The Pentagon referred all questions about the warning to the FAA,

02:10which confirmed the notice and said it will remain in effect for 90 days.