A military helicopter crossed in front of a United Airlines flight as the plane was coming in to land at an airport in California on Tuesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The airline said the United pilots had been advised by air traffic controllers of the nearby Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter during final approach at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana.
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“They saw the helicopter, and also received a traffic alert, which they responded to by leveling the aircraft,” United said in a statement. “The United flight then landed safely.”
Preliminary radar data from Flightradar24 shows that the two aircraft were separated by 525 feet vertically and just 1,422.43 feet — or 0.27 miles — when the helicopter crossed in front of the United plane.
The incident occurred around 8:40 p.m. local time Tuesday, according to the FAA. The Boeing 737 with 168 people on board was traveling from San Francisco to Santa Ana at the time…