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A Southwest Airlines plane flying from Southern California to Las Vegas made an abrupt and steep drop just after takeoff on Friday, causing panic among the passengers and injuring two flight attendants.
Flight 1496, which took off from Hollywood Burbank Airport shortly before noon, lost about 300 feet of altitude in only 36 seconds, FlightAware flight data indicates. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the plane reacted to an onboard warning that indicated another aircraft was in close proximity. The incident is under investigation.
Passenger Stef Zamorano, who was on her way to a birthday celebration with her husband, called the experience horrifying. “The plane shook violently and felt like it was plummeting,” Zamorano said. Zamorano remembered seeing one of the other passengers who wasn’t buckled in pop up out of her seat as the plane plunged, while others clutched armrests and let out their fear. “An woman several aisles over was repeating, over and over, ‘I want to get off this plane. I want to be on the ground,'” she said.
Comedian Jimmy Dore, who was also on the flight, tweeted on X that the pilot subsequently told passengers that a collision alert had been activated because an aircraft was heading towards them. “Pilot stated his collision alert went off & he had to maneuver around another plane heading our way,” Dore tweeted.
Flight tracking information showed the Southwest flight in the same air space as a Hawker Hunter Mk. 58 a British fighter aircraft owned by defense contractor Hawker Hunter Aviation at the time of the accident. The firm has not replied to media requests.
In spite of the frightening midair scare, Southwest stated that the plane proceeded to Las Vegas and landed safely without any other incident. The airline assured that the pilots adhered to standard procedure in reacting to two alerts one necessitating climbing, the other descending.
Hollywood Burbank Airport representative Mike Christensen said airport logs indicated no trace of a sudden dip in the flight’s takeoff. However, the FAA and Southwest Airlines have both committed to examining the incident in depth.
The near disaster comes amid mounting fears for air safety in the wake of recent high-profile air crashes, such as the fatal mid-air collision over Washington, DC, in January that killed 67 people.
