Southwest jet dives to avoid another plane; 2 flight attendants injured

A Southwest Airlines flight dived to avoid another plane while flying from Burbank, California, to Las Vegas on Friday. Two flight attendants were injured in the maneuver.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Southwest Flight 1496 got an onboard alert that another plane was near it while both aircraft were in Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center airspace. 

The incident occurred at around noon, shortly after the plane took off from Hollywood Burbank Airport and headed for Harry Reid International Airport.

“About 10 minutes into the flight, we plummeted pretty far, and I looked around, and everyone was like, ’OK, that’s normal.’ Then, within two seconds, it felt like the [Disney] ride Tower of Terror, where we fell 20 to 30 feet in the air. … We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash,” passenger Caitlin Burdi told Fox News.

The alerts, Southwest said in a statement, required the pilots to climb and descend to avoid the other plane.

Flight 1496 ultimately landed in Las Vegas without further incident, Southwest said.

“Southwest is engaged with the Federal Aviation Administration to further understand the circumstances. No injuries were immediately reported by customers, but two flight attendants are being treated for injuries,” the airline said.

The other plane was a Hawker Hunter, a British fighter jet introduced in the 1950s, according to ABC News. 

The Hawker Hunter had taken off from El Paso International Airport on Friday morning. After the near miss with the Southwest jet, the fighter landed at Naval Base Ventura County in Oxnard, California, according to FlightAware. The naval base is 55 miles west of the Burbank airport.