2 Southwest Airlines flight attendants hurt after plane plunges to avoid collision
Crew of Vegas-bound plane was responding to alert about about nearby aircraft
A Southwest Airline jet heading to Las Vegas from Southern California took a dramatic plunge shortly after takeoff Friday in response to an alert about a nearby plane, injuring two flight attendants, authorities and passengers said.
Southwest flight 1496 was responding to an onboard alert about another aircraft in its vicinity, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said. The FAA is investigating.
The crew responded to two air alerts that required the pilot to climb then descend, the airline said in a statement. The flight departed from Hollywood Burbank Airport just before noon local time.
Passengers posted on social media that the plane took a dramatic drop soon after takeoff. Data from flight tracking website FlightAware shows it dropped roughly 91 metres in 36 seconds.
"Pilot said his collision warning went off & he needed to avoid plane coming at us," comedian Jimmy Dore, who said he was on the flight, posted on X.
"Myself & Plenty of people flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant needed medical attention."
Jet was in same airspace as British fighter plane
FlightAware shows the plane was in the same airspace near Burbank as a Hawker Hunter Mk. 58 just after noon local time. A Hawker Hunter is a British fighter plane.
Records show the plane is owned by Hawker Hunter Aviation Ltd, a British defence contracting company. The company didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Mike Christensen, an airport spokesperson for Hollywood Burbank, said that neither the control tower nor the operations department, which tracks planes departing and arriving, have 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 FAA "to further understand the circumstances" of the event.
This close call is just the latest incident to raise questions about aviation safety in the wake of January's mid-air collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.