WASHINGTON: Two flight attendants on a Southwest Airlines flight departing Burbank, California, were injured on Friday (Jul 25) after pilots took evasive action to dodge another aircraft on takeoff, the airline said.
Southwest Flight 1496 sharply descended nearly 500 feet, according to flight tracking websites, marking the second time in a week that a US commercial jet was forced to make abrupt flight manoeuvres to avoid a potential mid-air collision.
The incident also appeared to be the fourth involving military aircraft since March.
The airline and the Federal Aviation Administration said the Southwest pilots took action after receiving cockpit alerts of other aircraft traffic being dangerously close. The Southwest Boeing 737 continued on to Las Vegas, where it landed uneventfully.
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 identified the other aircraft as a Hawker Hunter fighter jet – a British-built aircraft – that crossed in front of the Southwest flight.
The planes came within 7.82km of each other laterally and 350 feet (107m) vertically. The US Air Force and Defense Department did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding the military jet’s presence near Burbank.
The FAA was investigating.
Two flight attendants were treated for injuries, the airline said, without providing details.
No injuries were immediately reported by passengers, according to Southwest. But one passenger told Fox News Digital the sharp descent stirred panic onboard.
“It was terrifying. We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash,” Caitlin Burdi said in an on-camera interview. After the incident, “the pilot came on (the intercom), and he told us we almost collided with another plane”.
According to a statement from Southwest, the incident began when its crew responded to “two onboard traffic alerts” while taking off from the Hollywood Burbank Airport north of Los Angeles, “requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts”.
