Two flight attendants aboard a Southwest Airways flight from Southern California to Las Vegas had been injured after the plane took a dramatic 475-foot plunge shortly after take-off, reportedly to keep away from a possible mid-air collision.
Southwest Flight 1496 had departed from Hollywood Burbank Airport simply earlier than noon on Friday and was en path to Las Vegas when the incident occurred.
The Southwest business plane abruptly descended 475 ft in response to onboard alerts about one other airplane in its neighborhood, the airline and passengers confirmed.
Based on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Southwest jet was responding to an onboard collision warning system that detected one other plane close by. The FAA has launched an investigation into the incident.
A Flightradar video displaying the motion of the flight has surfaced on social media.
“The crew responded to 2 air alerts that required the pilot to climb after which descend,” Southwest stated in a press release.
Based on Fox Information, the dramatic fall brought about passengers to ‘fly up out’ of their seats and ‘into the ceiling’.
Passengers took to social media to explain the harrowing second. Slapstick comedian Jimmy Dore, who was on board the flight, posted on X (previously Twitter):
“Myself & Loads of folks flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant wanted medical consideration. Pilot stated his collision warning went off & he wanted to keep away from airplane coming at us. Wow.”
Airport officers, nonetheless, said that the plunge didn’t happen inside Burbank’s managed airspace. Mike Christensen, spokesperson for Hollywood Burbank Airport, stated neither the management tower nor operations staff recorded any such sudden altitude change involving the flight.
The FAA confirmed that the second plane concerned was a Hawker Hunter, registered as N335AX, which was flying at roughly 14,653 ft when the Southwest flight started its descent.
Regardless of the alarming mid-air manoeuvre, the plane continued its journey and landed safely in Las Vegas. “The flight landed uneventfully,” Southwest stated, including that it’s cooperating with the FAA “to additional perceive the circumstances”.
This near-miss comes amid rising considerations about aviation security, following a lethal mid-air collision over Washington, DC in January that claimed 67 lives.
