Southwest passengers hurled out of seats to avoid mid-air collision

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Southwest passengers were hurled out of their seats and onto the plane's ceiling, and two flight attendants were injured after the pilot was forced to make an evasive maneuver to avoid a mid-air collision. The jet, which was flying from Burbank, California, to Las Vegas, dropped 475 feet within seconds to avoid colliding with a Hawker Hunter military fighter aircraft in its path. Southwest Flight 1496 was climbing toward its cruising altitude on the 73-minute journey at around 11am on Friday and was passing through 14,100 ft when it suddenly plunged. The military jet was at 14,653 ft.
The dramatic dive to 13,625 ft was detailed by several passengers, including comedian Jimmy Dore, who described the terrifying few seconds when 'plenty of people flew out of their seats.' Two flight attendants were hurt during the ordeal, according to the airline. The commercial aircraft continued its journey and landed safely in Las Vegas. 'Just now on SW Flight #1496 Burbank to Las Vegas,' Dore posted to X. 'Pilot had to dive aggressively to avoid midair collision over Burbank airport. Myself & plenty of people flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant needed medical attention.'
Dore said the pilot later told passengers that an aircraft collision warning had been triggered in the cockpit. Video shared by Dore's producer, Stef Zamorano, showed shaken passengers moments after the ordeal. 'Just a few minutes ago we ended up having crazy turbulence on this flight,' Zamorano said in the clip. 'Turns out that turbulence was the pilot taking an aggressive move because there was another plane coming at us. That's what it was. It was collision avoidance,' Dore added. He said several passengers were violently flung upwards as the aircraft dropped. 'We were all shaken up,' Zamorano wrote. 'The flight erupted with applause once we landed.'
'The screaming, it was terrifying. We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash,' Burdi said. 'It was absolutely terrifying. I just remember him saying, "What just happened was we almost collided with another plane, and I had to make the emergency attempt to go under because we lost service with the air traffic controller."' Another passenger, Steve Ulasewicz, told NBC LA the dip occurred about eight minutes into the flight and lasted for 8 to 10 seconds. 'Felt a significant drop. The plane was just in a freefall. It was pandemonium,' he said. 'The drop occurred about a minute after the crew announced the beverage service was about to begin.'
Other passengers also shared their shock online. 'Our pilot had to make the most insane dive ever to avoid the other aircraft,' one person wrote on Reddit. 'So many of us flew out of our seats for about 20 seconds, even with seatbelts on, and one of the flight attendants got hurt and needed medical attention after we landed.' Passengers said one flight attendant was dazed after hitting her head, while another said he was quitting. Hollywood Burbank Airport said authorities are 'looking into the incident, however, there is currently no evidence that it occurred within the airspace above our airport.'
An FAA spokesperson told DailyMail.com that 'Southwest Airlines Flight 1496 responded to an onboard alert that another aircraft was in the vicinity while in Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center airspace. The FAA is investigating the event that occurred around 11am local time on Friday, July 25.' Sources familiar with aircraft warning systems say a TCAS alert likely triggered the evasive action. When such a system detects another aircraft converging on a dangerous path, pilots are instructed to immediately alter altitude or direction—usually within seconds. Preliminary data shows the planes were several miles apart when alerts were triggered.
This close call is just the latest to raise concerns about aviation safety following January's midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people. It also comes days after a similar scare on a Delta flight that narrowly avoided a B-52 bomber. 'For those of you on the right-hand side, you probably saw the airplane kind of sort of coming at us,' the Delta pilot said. 'Nobody told us about it… Sorry about the aggressive maneuver. It caught me by surprise. This is not normal at all.' While mid-air collisions are exceedingly rare, experts say 'near misses' are rising due to outdated radar coverage, traffic volume, and strain on air traffic control systems.