Southwest passengers were thrown from their seats and onto the aircraft’s ceiling, with two flight attendants sustaining injuries, after the pilot had to perform an evasive maneuver to avert a mid-air collision.

The aircraft, en route from Burbank, California, to Las Vegas, abruptly descended 475 feet in seconds to prevent a crash with a Hawker Hunter military fighter jet in its trajectory.

Flight 1496 was ascending to its cruising altitude on the 73-minute trip to Las Vegas and was at 14,100 ft when the plane suddenly dropped without warning.

The dramatic dive to 13,625 ft was detailed by several passengers, including comedian Jimmy Dore, who described the terrifying few seconds when ‘plenty of people flew out of their seats.’ 

Two flight attendants was hurt during the ordeal, according to the airline. The commercial aircraft continued its journey and landed safely in Las Vegas.

‘Just now on SW Flight #1496 Burbank to Las Vegas,’ the comedian posted to X. 

‘Pilot had to dive aggressively to avoid midair collision over Burbank airport. Myself & plenty of people flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant needed medical attention. 

‘Pilot said his collision warning went off & he needed to avoid plane coming at us. Wow.’

Dore said the pilot later told passengers that an aircraft collision warning had been triggered in the cockpit, forcing him to take immediate action to avoid another plane.

Video shared by Dore’s producer Stef Zamorano showed shaken passengers moments after the ordeal, still trying to process what had just occurred.  

‘Just a few minutes ago we ended up having crazy turbulence on this flight,’ Zamorano said in the clip. ‘Jimmy, have you ever had that kind of experience before?’, she asked.

‘Turns out that turbulence was the pilot taking an aggressive move because there was another plane coming at us. That’s what it was. It was collision avoidance,’ Dore explained. 

Dore said several passengers were violently flung upwards from their seats as the aircraft dropped suddenly. 

‘The Crew of Southwest Flight 1496 responded to two onboard traffic alerts Friday afternoon while climbing out of Burbank, California requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts,’ the airline said in a statement.

‘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 FAA has not released an official incident report as of Friday evening, but sources familiar with aircraft warning systems say a TCAS alert likely triggered the evasive action. 

When the system detects another aircraft converging on a dangerous flight path, pilots are instructed to immediately alter altitude or direction – usually within seconds.

Preliminary data shows the planes were several miles apart when the pilots received their alerts. 

Near-miss incidents in congested airspace such as Los Angeles can occur when multiple departures or arrivals cross paths at varying altitudes, especially near busy hubs like LAX and Burbank airports.

The incident comes just days after a similar scare on a Delta flight that narrowly avoided a military B-52 bomber, raising fresh concerns over air traffic safety in crowded U.S. airspace.

‘For those of you on the right-hand side, you probably saw the airplane kind of sort of coming at us,’ the Delta pilot told passengers over the intercom after safely landing.

‘Nobody told us about it… Sorry about the aggressive maneuver. It caught me by surprise. This is not normal at all.’

Flight DL3788 was forced to abort its landing, circle the airport and perform a go-around after an air traffic controller failed to warn the pilot of the approaching bomber. 

According to flight data, the aircraft made sharp turns and climbed abruptly to escape the collision path.

While no injuries were reported in the Delta incident, passengers were visibly shaken. 

One woman said, ‘We all just kind of looked at each other and stayed quiet. It felt like something really serious had just happened.’

The Southwest and Delta incidents, occurring within a week of one another have reignited public concern over air traffic safety and coordination between commercial airlines and military aircraft, as well as the reliability of radar and separation systems in congested airspace.

While mid-air collisions remain exceedingly rare, experts note that ‘near misses’ have been rising in frequency due to increased traffic volume, outdated radar coverage in some regions, and pressure on Air Traffic Control systems.