Overview
- United Airlines Flight 589 triggered a cockpit collision alert on final approach to John Wayne Airport and then landed safely, prompting an FAA investigation.
- Air traffic control had warned the crew to watch for a nearby military helicopter, and the pilots leveled off until the aircraft passed.
- FlightRadar24 data show the planes closed to about 160 meters vertically and 433 meters laterally, and LiveATC audio captured a controller saying the situation “wasn’t right.”
- The California National Guard said its UH-60 Black Hawk was returning to Los Alamitos on a set visual-flight route at an assigned altitude while in radio contact with controllers.
- Earlier this month the FAA ordered controllers to use radar to actively track helicopters in airliner paths, a change shaped by a 2025 Black Hawk–airliner collision at Reagan National that killed 67.