United Airlines plane has close call with Black Hawk helicopter
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The incident involved a United Airlines plane landing at John Wayne Airport in Southern California.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – A Black Hawk helicopter crossed in front of a United Airlines plane landing at John Wayne Airport in Southern California on March 24, resulting in the jet’s pilot getting a collision avoidance alert.
The close call is the latest in a string of incidents involving helicopters and commercial passenger jets.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has been trying to clamp down on these occurrences after a US Army Black Hawk collided with an American Airlines regional jet near Washington in 2025, killing 67 people.
The FAA told Bloomberg in a statement on March 26 that it’s investigating the event, which happened around 8.40pm.
The regulator said it would specifically look at whether new safety rules requiring air traffic controllers to use radar to keep helicopters and planes separated, rather than relying on pilots’ sight, were applied.
One of the pilots of United Airlines Flight 589 can be heard telling an air traffic controller that he received an alert that tells the crew whether certain manoeuvres should or shouldn’t be performed to avoid a collision with another aircraft.
“We’re going to be addressing that because that was not good,” the controller can be heard responding.
CBS News reported on the incident earlier on March 26. Bloomberg
