· 26 comments · Save ·
General Mar 26, 2026 at 10:04 PM

US FAA probes close call between United jet, Army helicopter in California

Posted by Dickulture

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-faa-probes-close-call-between-united-jet-army-helicopter-california-2026-03-26/
🚩 Report this post

26 Comments

Sign in to comment — or just click the box below.
🔒 Your email is never shown publicly.
Dickulture Mar 26, 2026 +123
Seems like helicopter pilot didn't learn from the disaster over a year ago and still "I go now, good luck everyone" cutting off a plane that was trying to land.
123
xynith116 Mar 26, 2026 +27
Average day on the 405
27
el_sanchimoto Mar 26, 2026 +11
Average day any where here. Have you seen the school drop off and pick up lines lately?
11
DankVectorz Mar 26, 2026 +30
It was 500’ vertical between a VFR and IFR. This is normal legal seperation. The only reason there’s anything about it is because the airliner got a TCAS warning, which is normal with 500’ sep. this is a nothingburger.
30
Boomshtick414 Mar 26, 2026 +42
FWIW, arguably everything leading up to the DCA collision was accepted as normal as well. Doesn't mean there's nothing here worth taking a closer look at.
42
OnionDart Mar 26, 2026 +39
While it is normal separation between vfr and ifr traffic, I think they need to change it to 1000 ft between all, not just ifr/ifr. I got vectored over a GA guy with 500’ last week and because they can’t hold altitude at such tight tolerances we got an RA. So yes, legal, but why? Let’s fix it. Can’t just say “well it’s legal” any more
39
DankVectorz Mar 26, 2026 +19
It would not be physically possible to run 1000’ seperation between all VFR and IFR. Not unless the vastly extend A/B/C airspace and severely limit E to like Kansas
19
OnionDart Mar 26, 2026 +24
A complete overhaul of the national airspace system you say? Don’t tempt me with a good time!
24
DankVectorz Mar 26, 2026 +5
I do be wishing my bravo was bigger and went lower
5
Spetznazx Mar 27, 2026 +1
It's also the international standard
1
Navydevildoc Mar 27, 2026 +6
Always amazing to see DankVectorz out in the wild and not in one of the aviation subs...
6
SoggyCorndogs Mar 26, 2026 +7
You got any more of those stray letters?
7
accidentlife Mar 27, 2026 +3
For those not in the loop, airspace classes referred to how restrictive the airspace is. Class A is the most restrictive.
3
NeutralBias Mar 26, 2026 +4
How about MOA, TRSA, R, P, CFA, G? Yes, those are all airspace types. Enjoy!
4
Spetznazx Mar 27, 2026 +1
Not sure TRSAs exist anymore, think they all got converted to Class Bs
1
NeutralBias Mar 27, 2026 +1
There's still a couple floating around. Anderson AFB in Guam and Huntington, WV come to mind.
1
Spetznazx Mar 27, 2026 +1
Those are both Class Ds, but a quick Google search says there's around 25ish left.
1
NeutralBias Mar 27, 2026 +1
They're still marked as TRSAs on the sectionals, as least according to sky vector.
1
Spetznazx Mar 27, 2026 +1
Hmm that's where I looked too haha. And I see the confusion. Anderson is a Class D inside of a TRSA covering the whole area.
1
gospdrcr000 Mar 26, 2026
*inserts Dave chappelle crack meme* Lmao I was thinking the same, can't abbreviate until you spell it out
0
Bright-Pilot-3970 Mar 27, 2026 +2
I’m a controller and always use 1000 because I had a supervisor a long time ago who made us write up the MOR when we did something like that. Definitely harder to do when a plane is on final though. Usually I just keep the helicopter a mile away and pass behind when the traffic is clear. Some pilots will still respond to an RA even when both aircraft have each other in sight.
2
OnionDart Mar 27, 2026 +7
We are required to respond to any RA even if you have the traffic in sight because you don’t know definitively the traffic you see is the intruder aircraft. There’s no discretion with RAs. It’s a respond, get to safety, then figure it out moment. There’s no discussion when Betty is saying “CLIMB, CLIMB NOW”
7
Bright-Pilot-3970 Mar 27, 2026 +3
I figured. The instance that happened to me was a medivac helicopter. They get priority so I didn’t really care too much because I wasn’t going to delay that one. Now though we are not allowed to use visual sep between a helicopter and fixed wings as of last week so I guess it doesn’t even matter anymore.
3
Musicman1972 Mar 26, 2026 +7
Why are the FAA conducting a full investigation? There must be something out of spec surely?
7
Navydevildoc Mar 27, 2026 +7
I think you should be shocked at how many routine things get investigated by the FSDO on the regular. 9 times out of 10, they will get the facts, agree with Dankvectorz that this is a nothingburger, and close the file. But it's better to give something a second look to see if there is a procedure or rule that could be improved, than to just assume.
7
DankVectorz Mar 26, 2026 +3
Sounds like they’re investigating if the new helicopter visual Sep rules that went into effect this week were violated
3
← Back to Board