Overview
- United Flight 589, which was landing Tuesday around 8:40 p.m., received a cockpit collision alert after a California National Guard UH-60 crossed ahead on final approach to John Wayne Airport, and the crew leveled off and landed safely with 162 passengers and six crew.
- Flight-tracking data shows the aircraft were about 525 feet apart vertically and 1,422 feet laterally at the closest point, triggering a TCAS Resolution Advisory that tells pilots to change their flight path immediately to avoid a collision.
- The FAA opened an investigation that includes whether controllers followed its new ban on visual separation between helicopters and airplanes, and tower audio captured a controller saying, “We’re going to be addressing that, because that was not good.”
- The California National Guard said the Black Hawk was returning to Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos on a routine training flight along an established VFR route at an assigned altitude while in contact with air traffic control, and it pledged a review with federal agencies.
- The close call follows the FAA’s March 18 order to use radar-based spacing where helicopters cross airliner paths and comes as two House committees advanced safety legislation tied to persistent helicopter–airliner conflicts after the 2025 D.C. midair crash that killed 67 people.