Minutes after taking off from Burbank, California, the flight dropped by hundreds of feet (several dozen meters) according to flight tracking websites.
American stand-up comedian Jimmy Dore said in an X post that he and “plenty of people flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling” as the flight “aggressively” dove midair
The pilot of Southwest Flight 1496 told passengers the maneuver was needed to avoid colliding with another plane
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was “investigating the incident.”
Southwestern Airlines said its crew “responded to two onboard traffic alerts Friday afternoon… requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts.”
“The flight continued to Las Vegas, where it landed uneventfully,” the airline said, adding that it was “engaged” with the FAA.
No customers were reported to be injured, but two flight attendants were “being treated for injuries,” according to the airline’s statement.
The flight was in the same airspace, near Burbank, as a Hawker Hunter Mk 58 fighter jet, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.
US media reported the Hawker Hunter jet was privately owned.
The incident raises further questions about aviation safety in the United States, following a series of accidents and near-misses in recent months.
In January, a mid-air collision between a commercial aircraft approaching Ronald Reagan Airport near downtown Washington and a military helicopter killed 67 people.
In May, US President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans to overhaul its “antiquated” air traffic control system, which suffers from a shortage of controllers in FAA-managed towers.
The government has laid off hundreds of FAA employees as part of its plan to slash the federal workforce.
