Screams and chaos: Southwest Airlines jet narrowly avoids collision with fighter jet
Photo: Southwest plane narrowly avoids collision with Hawker Hunter (wikimedia.org)
A Southwest Airlines passenger jet narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with a private Hawker Hunter fighter jet near Los Angeles, forcing the pilots to take evasive action, according to CNN.
The incident occurred shortly after takeoff from Hollywood Burbank Airport. Flight 1496 was en route to Las Vegas. Less than six minutes after departure, a Hawker Hunter fighter jet came dangerously close to the aircraft.
The pilots performed an evasive maneuver to avoid a collision. According to one of the passengers, there was panic and chaos in the cabin at that moment, and people started screaming.
"I definitely thought that the plane was going down, that there was a mechanical issue with it," an eyewitness said.
Eventually, the pilots calmed the passengers by explaining that they had to perform a maneuver to avoid a mid-air collision.
"The crew of Southwest Flight 1496 responded to two onboard traffic alerts Friday afternoon… requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts," said Lynn Lunsford, Southwest spokesman in a statement. "Southwest is engaged with the Federal Aviation Administration to further understand the circumstances."
Plane crash in Italy
A plane crash recently occurred in Italy. On July 22, an aircraft went down, crashing onto a highway.
As a result of the ultralight aircraft crash, two people were killed. The aircraft caught fire after impact.
