After making its first ascent from Hollywood Burbank Airport in Southern California on Friday, a Southwest Airlines aircraft abruptly dropped, injuring two flight attendants, the carrier stated in a statement.
It was the second occurrence involving commercial flights in a week, the statement said, and the sudden plummet occurred after two safety signals were heard in the cockpit.
According to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, the pilots of Southwest Airlines Flight 1496 executed the maneuver soon after takeoff after an onboard system identified another aircraft in the vicinity, triggering two alerts from the aircraft’s collision avoidance system.
By instructing a pilot to either climb or descend to lower the chance of a collision, the safety warning system helps pilots avoid midair mishaps. The other aircraft involved in the incident were not immediately described.
According to a statement from a Southwest Airlines representative, the crew of Southwest Flight 1496 had to ascend and descend in order to comply with two onboard traffic alerts that they had to respond to while climbing out of Burbank, California, on Friday afternoon.
It is uncertain how seriously the flight attendants were hurt. According to the airline, no passengers were hurt.
On social media, some persons who claimed to be on board the Boeing 737 talked about how passengers were startled out of their seats when the aircraft veered off course. They said that the pilot had announced the sound of a collision warning.
In an email on Friday, Hollywood Burbank Airport spokesman Mike Christensen stated that there had been no sign of a near-miss in the airspace above the airport, contrary to what some travelers had described on social media. He directed inquiries regarding the incident to Southwest Airlines.
“Ensuring the safety of everyone in the national airspace system remains our top priority,” the F.A.A. said in a statement, adding that the agency was conducting an investigation.
Five minutes into the 57-minute flight from Burbank to Las Vegas, Flight 1496 fell roughly 300 feet of altitude, according to the website FlightAware, which tracks aircraft.
In order to prevent a mid-air collision with a B-52 bomber over North Dakota on July 18, a minor airline jet flying a code-share route for Delta Air Lines attempted an aggressive maneuver.
Because the military aircraft was in its flight path, the passenger plane, SkyWest Airlines Flight 3788, aborted a landing when it was en route from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota.
Although there were no injuries, one traveler claimed that the encounter had spooked others, including the captain, who announced what had occurred.
These incidents have further heightened worries about the country’s air traffic control system, which came under close examination after American Airlines Flight 5342, which was landing at Reagan National Airport outside Washington on January 29, was struck by an Army Black Hawk chopper, killing 67 people.