The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a near-miss incident in Southern California between a National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial airline flight this week.
On the evening of Tuesday, March 24, a United Airlines 737 flight was approaching John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California. As it was descending around roughly 2,000 feet, the California Army National Guard UH-60M Black Hawk passed in front of its path, according to flight data from Flightradar24. The two aircraft came within 525 feet vertical and 1,422 feet lateral from each other.
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The close proximity caused the 737 to trigger a Traffic Collision Avoidance System Resolution Advisory, an alarm warning the pilots of the risk of a mid-air collision. The pilots then immediately leveled out the plane, stopping its descent and the two aircraft continued their separate ways. According to the flight data, the United Airlines flight then landed at the airport a few minutes later. The air traffic controller talking to the crew confirmed with them that they had received a resolution advisory, per radio traffic, adding “thank you, and we’re going to be addressing that, because that was not good.”
In a statement shared on Friday, the National Guard Bureau said that it was aware of the incident and that it is reviewing Tuesday’s events in coordination with the FAA.
The California Army National Guard helicopter, callsign Knife25, was based out of Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos in Orange County, just under 20 miles northwest of John Wayne Airport, and was “conducting a routine training mission and returning to its airfield at the time of the report,” according to the National Guard.
“The California Army National Guard flight crew was operating under the positive control of air traffic control and followed all instructions,” the statement continued. “Critically, our pilots established and maintained visual separation with the other aircraft.”
The incident in Southern California is the latest close call in the past year involving passenger planes and military aircraft. Last summer, a B-52 doing a fly-by near the North Dakota State Fairgrounds caused a passenger jet to make an “aggressive maneuver” as it tried to land. Last January, 67 people died in the Washington, D.C. area when a UH-60L from the 12th Aviation Battalion and a passenger jet landing at Washington National Aircraft collided.
