Southwest flight drops 152m in evasive action, injuring 2 crew members
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Southwest Airlines Flight 1496 (not pictured) reached an altitude of 4298m. It then dove to 4153m in a 33-second manoeuvre. Photo / Washington Post
A Southwest Airlines flight headed to Las Vegas abruptly dropped 152m mid-air soon after take-off from a Los Angeles-area airport, as on-board alerts warned pilots that another plane was nearby, according to federal authorities and the airline.
Six minutes after taking off from Hollywood Burbank Airport, Southwest Airlines Flight 1496 reached an altitude of 4298m. It then dove to 4153m in a 33-second manoeuvre, according to data from Flightradar24. The plane climbed to 4336m over the next 26 seconds.
People flew out of their seats and hit their heads on the ceiling, according to Jimmy Dore, a stand-up comedian who said he was on the plane. Two flight attendants were injured.
The flight landed in Las Vegas without further incident, according to Southwest, which said in a statement that the plane was responding to two on-board traffic alerts. The airline said it was engaging with federal authorities 'to further understand the circumstances'.
No passengers immediately reported injuries, it added.
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NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Southwest flight drops 152m in evasive action, injuring 2 crew members
Southwest Airlines Flight 1496 (not pictured) reached an altitude of 4298m. It then dove to 4153m in a 33-second manoeuvre. Photo / Washington Post Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Southwest Airlines Flight 1496 (not pictured) reached an altitude of 4298m. It then dove to 4153m in a 33-second manoeuvre. Photo / Washington Post A Southwest Airlines flight headed to Las Vegas abruptly dropped 152m mid-air soon after take-off from a Los Angeles-area airport, as on-board alerts warned pilots that another plane was nearby, according to federal authorities and the airline. Six minutes after taking off from Hollywood Burbank Airport, Southwest Airlines Flight 1496 reached an altitude of 4298m. It then dove to 4153m in a 33-second manoeuvre, according to data from Flightradar24. The plane climbed to 4336m over the next 26 seconds. People flew out of their seats and hit their heads on the ceiling, according to Jimmy Dore, a stand-up comedian who said he was on the plane. Two flight attendants were injured. The flight landed in Las Vegas without further incident, according to Southwest, which said in a statement that the plane was responding to two on-board traffic alerts. The airline said it was engaging with federal authorities 'to further understand the circumstances'. No passengers immediately reported injuries, it added.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Southwest Airlines jet dives as a fighter jet crosses its path near Los Angeles
By Alexandra Skores and Aaron Cooper , CNN Southwest Airlines Boeing 737s are lined up at the terminal at San Diego International Airport in August 2024. Photo:via CNN Newsource Alarms sounded in the cockpit of a Southwest Airlines jet shortly after taking off from Hollywood Burbank airport near Los Angeles, prompting evasive manoeuvres, the airline said in a statement. Southwest Flight 1496, operating on a Boeing 737, took off just before noon local time on a short flight to Las Vegas. After less than six minutes in the air, a privately owned Hawker Hunter fighter jet, crossed less than two miles in front of it within a few hundred feet of its altitude, according to the flight tracking site Flightradar24. "There was a small initial drop that I thought was just like really bad turbulence," passenger Steve Ulasewicz told CNN. "And then after that, there was this long free fall." He describes being terrified, people screaming and pandemonium in the cabin. "I definitely thought that the plane was going down, that there was a mechanical issue with it," Ulasewicz said. Eventually the pilots got on the intercom and told the passengers they had to manoeuvre the plane to avoid the mid-air collision. "The crew of Southwest Flight 1496 responded to two onboard traffic alerts Friday afternoon... requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts," said Lynn Lunsford, Southwest spokesman in a statement. "Southwest is engaged with the Federal Aviation Administration to further understand the circumstances." The fighter jet was flying from El Paso, Texas to Venture County Airport in Oxnard, California. The FAA is investigating. It's not clear if the aircraft were directed so close together or if one of them was in a location where they were not supposed to be. When the alarms sounded, the Southwest plane dropped about 475 feet and then went back up about 600 feet over the course of about a minute, according to Flightradar24. The fighter jet went up about 100 feet in just a few seconds. Two Southwest flight attendants are being treated for injuries, but no passengers were hurt, the airline said. The passenger jet did not declare an emergency and continued the 39-minute flight to Las Vegas, landing about nine minutes ahead of schedule. CNN has reached out to Hunter Aviation International, the registered owner of the fighter jet. Most commercial planes are equipped with a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System, often called TCAS, which can direct pilots to climb or descended to avoid getting too close to other planes. TCAS works independently of ground air traffic control, searching nearby airspace using radio frequencies from transponders in other aircraft. - CNN
1News
3 days ago
- 1News
US plane makes dramatic plunge to avoid collision with fighter jet
Two Southwest Airlines flight attendants are being treated for injuries after a passenger jet heading to Las Vegas from Southern California took a dramatic plunge shortly after takeoff in response to an alert about a nearby plane, the airline and passengers said. Southwest flight 1496 was responding to an onboard alert about another aircraft in its vicinity on Friday (local time), the Federal Aviation Administration said. The FAA is investigating. ABC News reported the plane rapidly descended to avoid a Hawker Hunter aircraft. The crew responded to two air alerts that required the pilot to climb and then descend, the airline said in a statement. The flight departed from Hollywood Burbank Airport just before noon. Passengers posted on social media that the plane took a dramatic drop soon after takeoff. ADVERTISEMENT "Pilot said his collision warning went off & he needed to avoid plane coming at us," comedian Jimmy Dore posted on X. The plane was not in the immediate vicinity of the Hollywood Burbank Airport, north of Los Angeles, at the time, said Mike Christensen, an airport spokesman. Christensen said that neither the control tower nor the operations department, which tracks planes departing and arriving, has any record of the Southwest flight plunging in their airspace. Southwest said the flight continued to Las Vegas, "where it landed uneventfully". The airline said that it is working with the Federal Aviation Administration "to further understand the circumstances" of the event.
