OAN Staff Lillian Mann
11:24 AM – Friday, March 27, 2026
A military helicopter crossed in front of a United Airlines flight as it was landing at John Wayne Airport on the evening of Tuesday, March 24th, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
At approximately 8:40 p.m., a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 was approaching John Wayne Airport when a Black Hawk crossed in front of the aircraft, with 525 feet of vertical separation and 0.27 miles (about 1,422 feet) laterally, according to Flightradar24.
United Airlines said air traffic control warned the pilots about an approaching Black Hawk helicopter, and the crew leveled the aircraft after spotting it.
The alert issued to the United pilots was a Resolution Advisory (RA) which the most serious anti-collision warning a pilot can receive, according to the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). It instructs pilots on the actions needed to avoid a collision and requires immediate response.
“They saw the helicopter, and also received a traffic alert, which they responded to by leveling the aircraft. The United flight then landed safely,” United said in a statement.
United flight 589 had 162 passengers and 6 crew on board and was traveling from San Francisco to Santa Ana.
Last year, an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet collided in midair near Washington, D.C. as the jet was attempting to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, killing 67 people.
Following the incident, the FAA implemented a new policy suspending the use of “visual separation” between airplanes and helicopters in high-traffic areas, requiring air traffic controllers to instead use radar to keep aircraft safely apart.
The FAA is currently looking into whether or not this new initiative was applied when the United flight and the Black Hawk crossed paths.
The close call incident occurred only two days after an Air Canada jet collided into a port authority fire trunk at LaGuardia Airport, killing the two pilots and injuring several others.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the collision was most likely linked multiple systemic failures within the FAA and was 100% preventable.
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