Southwest passenger describes horror of plummeting mid-air as screams filled the cabin as pilot avoided crash

Daily Mail​

27-07-2025

A passenger aboard a Southwest flight that was forced to make an evasive maneuver to avoid a mid-air collision said screams filled the cabin as they narrowly missed another aircraft.
Caitlin Burdi told Fox News that she feared for her life aboard the flight on Friday from Burbank, California, to Las Vegas when the jet dropped 475 feet within seconds to avoid colliding with a Hawker Hunter military fighter aircraft in its path.
'About 10 minutes into the flight, we plummeted pretty far, and I looked around, and everyone was like, "OK, that's normal",' Burdi said.
'Then, within two seconds, it felt like the ride Tower of Terror, where we fell 20 to 30 feet in the air. The screaming, it was terrifying. We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash.
'It was absolutely terrifying, just remember him saying, "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."'
Southwest passengers were hurled out of their seats and onto the plane's ceiling and two flight attendants were injured after the pilot made the evasive maneuver.
Southwest Flight 1496 was climbing towards its cruising altitude on the 73-minute journey to Las Vegas at around 11am on Friday and was passing through 14,100 ft when the plane suddenly plunged without warning. The military jet was at 14,653 ft.
Also among the passengers included comedian Jimmy Dore, who described the terrifying few seconds when 'plenty of people flew out of their seats.'
Two flight attendants were 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 and his 700,000 followers.
'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 explained in his post.
'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.
'We were all shaken up,' Zamorano wrote. 'The flight erupted with applause once we landed.'
'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.'
Another passenger on board, Steve Ulasewicz told NBC LA the dip occurred about eight minutes into the flight and lasted for about eight to 10 seconds.
Ulasewicz said passengers were screaming during the drop before the plane leveled out.
He explained how the pilot used software to avoid a midair collision.
'Felt a significant drop. The plane was just in a freefall. It was pandemonium,' Ulasewicz said.
The drop occurred about a minute after the crew announced the beverage service was about to begin.
Other passengers also commented online. 'Our pilot had to make the most insane dive ever to avoid the other aircraft,' one of the passengers wrote on Reddit.
'So many of us flew out of our seats for about 20 seconds, even with seatbelts on, and one of the flight attendants got hurt and needed medical attention after we landed,' the passenger recounted.
'I just wanted to thank the pilot, co-pilot, and flight attendants for keeping us safe.'
Passengers said one flight attendant was dazed after hitting her head while another said he was quitting.
Hollywood Burbank Airport said authorities are 'looking into the incident, however, there is currently no evidence that it occurred within the airspace above our airport.'
An FAA spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Friday night that, 'Southwest Airlines Flight 1496 responded to an onboard alert that another aircraft was in the vicinity while in Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center airspace. The FAA is investigating the event that occurred around 11am local time on Friday, July 25.'
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.
The comedian detailed what happened in a post to his X account
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.
This close call is just the latest incident to raise questions about aviation safety in the wake of January's midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.
Friday's 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 US 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.