Southwest Flight Forced to Dive to Avoid Collision on Take-Off

A Southwest Airlines flight that departed Hollywood Burbank Airport Friday was forced to perform a pair of collision-avoidance maneuvers after the pilot received two “traffic alerts,” and two flight attendants were injured.

ABC7, citing online flight tracking, reported that the plane quickly descended 475 feet in response to the collision-avoidance alert. The plane eventually continued to its destination in Las Vegas without incident.

One passenger wrote on social media that the “pilot had to dive aggressively to avoid midair collision over Burbank airport.” He said he and some other passengers “flew out of their seats and bumped heads on the ceiling.”

Southwest issued a statement saying the crew of Flight 1496 “responded to two onboard traffic alerts Friday afternoon while climbing out of Burbank … requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts.”