Southwest Flight 1496 had a close encounter with a fighter jet shortly after takeoff from Hollywood Burbank Airport, triggering cockpit alarms and forcing the crew to take evasive action.
The Southwest Boeing 737 departed just before noon local time on Friday for a scheduled flight to Las Vegas. Six minutes after takeoff, a privately owned Hawker Hunter fighter jet crossed less than two miles in front of the Southwest plane, passing within a few hundred feet of the same altitude, according to flight tracking site Flightradar24.
When the collision avoidance system activated, the Southwest aircraft dropped approximately 475 feet before climbing 600 feet over about one minute. The fighter jet simultaneously climbed about 100 feet in a matter of seconds.
Two Southwest flight attendants sustained injuries during the incident, though no passengers were hurt, the airline reported. Despite the encounter, the crew did not declare an emergency and continued to Las Vegas, arriving about nine minutes ahead of schedule after a 39-minute flight.
The fighter jet was traveling from El Paso, Texas, to Oxnard, California, at the time of the incident.
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