A Las Vegas-bound Southwest flight’s pilot was left with no option but to make an abrupt decision about nosediving to avoid a midair tragedy after takeoff. Flight tracking data and passenger accounts from the plane indicated that the US airplane rapidly dropped 475 feet in barely over half a minute to prevent another aircraft from colliding into it.

As per FlightAware, the other plane in the same airspace is believed to have been a military fighter aircraft owned by a British defence contracting company, Hawker Hunter Aviation Ltd. A passenger has since even blamed the other plane for the near-fatal horror.

Southwest flight 1496 took off from Hollywood Burbank Airport, California, and was headed to Las Vegas, Nevada. However, just minutes later the pilot had to execute the shocking maneuver to save people onboard Friday. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the case. 

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Passengers onboard at the time eventually took to social media to share how the nosedive event affected them. Comedian Jimmy Dore and his producer Stef Zamorano were also on the flight, and he disclosed that the no-warning mid-air plunge left the passengers extremely terrified, especially since “plenty of people flew out of their seats.”

“Just now on SW Flight #1496 Burbank to Las Vegas,” he posted on 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.”

Dore further shared that the pilot told them that he acted within seconds once a collision warning went off about another plane coming at them. 

US passenger blames military plane for mid-air horror

Zamorano has since put out a dramatic video of the ordeal showing how passengers were still trying their best to come to terms with what had happened just moments after the pilot’s life-saving move, as per the Daily Mail. “Just a few minutes ago we ended up having crazy turbulence on this flight,” the comedian’s producer said in a video. “Jimmy, have you ever had that kind of experience before?”

She then explained, “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.” Noting how several people onboard were flung out of their seats, she added, “We were all shaken up. The flight erupted with applause once we landed.”

After the incident, Zamorano unleashed her fury on X. She attempted to corner the British military plane that intercepted commercial airline air space. Plugging reports of the Hawker Hunter aircraft revelation, she fumed online, “I want answers why #ATAC (Airborne Tactical Advantage Company) has aircraft in commercial airline air space!” In another post, she added, “We almost died on this flight and it’s due to a MILITARY plane!!!!!!”

A fellow passenger named Caitlin Burdi also noted how just about 10 minutes into the plane journey their aircraft plummeted “pretty far.” 

“I looked around, everyone was like, “OK, that’s normal,” she went on. “Then, within two seconds, it felt like the ride Tower of Terror, where we fell 20 to 30 feet in the air,” as quoted by Fox News. Burdi also detailed how “absolute terrifying” the experience was as the pilot told them, “What just happened was we almost collided with another plane, and I had to make the emergency attempt to go under because we lost service with the air traffic controller.”

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US plane avoids mid-air collision, lands in Las Vegas

The significant drop resulted in Southwest flight 1496 plummeting from 14,100 ft to 13,625 ft, according to FlightRadar24. Two flight attendants were injured in the aftermath of the incident, authorities and passengers revealed as per reports. 

A statement by the airline suggested that the crew was responding to two air alerts, resulting in its initial climb followed by the sudden descent. Given the second-splitting redirection, Mike Christensen, a spokesperson for Hollywood Burbank Airport, said that both the control tower and the operations department had no record of the Southwest Airlines plane dropping in their airspace.

Later on, the aircraft continued its journey to the destination, and ultimately “landed uneventfully” in Las Vegas. The US airline has since informed that its collaboration with the FAA will dig deeper “to further understand the circumstances” surrounding the midair incident.