Southwest flight dives to avoid collision, injures 2 crew members
Flight 1496 departed Hollywood Burbank Airport around 11 a.m. when it abruptly dropped nearly 500 feet in response to an onboard alert warning of a potential collision, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Southwest Airlines confirmed that the Boeing 737 crew responded to 'two onboard traffic alerts,' prompting both a climb and an immediate descent. The FAA is now investigating the incident, which involved a nearby British-made Hawker Hunter f.
According to flight tracking data from FlightAware and flightRadar24, the Southwest jet descended from 14,100 feet to 13,625 feet in just over 30 seconds.
Passengers described scenes of fear and confusion.
'We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash,' Caitlin Burdi told Fox News Digital.
'I saw a woman who wasn't wearing her seat belt shoot up and out of her seat, her long hair flying in a tangled mess,' said Stef Zamorano, who spoke to the Associated Press. 'She was pretty much verbalizing how we all felt, saying, 'I want to get off this plane. I want to be on the ground.''
Southwest said it is cooperating with the FAA 'to further understand the circumstances.'
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