US flight, headed to Las Vegas, nosedives nearly 500 feet to avoid mid-air collision

The incident appeared to be the fourth involving military aircraft since March.

A Southwest Airline jet heading to Las Vegas from Southern California took a dramatic plunge shortly after takeoff on Friday in response to an alert about a nearby plane, sending some passengers flying out of their seats and injuring two flight attendants.

Passengers experienced frightening turbulence after the jet nosedived at least 475 feet, according to flight tracking websites, to avoid a mid-air collision, according to a report by Reuters.

This was the second time in a week that a US commercial jet was forced to make abrupt flight maneuvers to avoid a potential mid-air collision. The incident also appeared to be the fourth involving military aircraft since March.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the flight, Southwest 1496, was responding to an onboard alert about another aircraft in its vicinity. The FAA is investigating. Southwest said the crew responded to two alerts that required the pilot to climb then descend. The flight departed from Hollywood Burbank Airport just before noon.

According to Fox News, the dramatic fall caused passengers to ‘fly up out’ of their seats and ‘into the ceiling’.