A Southwest Airlines jet had a rather eventful flight today minutes after taking off from California, leading to injuries.
Southwest jet gets TCAS alert, drops 475 feet
This incident happened today (Friday, July 25, 2025), and involves flight WN1496, operating from Burbank (BUR) to Las Vegas (LAS). The short 42-minute flight was flown by a 19-year-old Boeing 737-700 with the registration code N249WN.
The plane took off at 11:57AM local time, and roughly six minutes after takeoff, the pilots received a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alert, indicating that there’s other traffic in the area. For those not familiar with TCAS, this is an alarm that goes off in the flight deck, and then it gives pilots instructions about what maneuvers to perform, based on traffic becoming dangerously close.
The TCAS gave the pilots two sets of instructions (to descend and to climb). Based on flight tracking software, it appears that the plane initially dropped 475 feet, from around 14,100 feet, to around 13,625 feet.
It would appear that the other aircraft involved in this incident was a 66-year-old Hawker Hunter with the registration code N335AX, flying from El Paso (ELP) to Point Mugu (NTD), which was traveling in the opposite direction. The planes were roughly at the same altitude but weren’t on the same course, so they wouldn’t have collided if they just maintained course, but they were definitely too close for comfort.
It’s not yet clear if air traffic control made a mistake with how these planes were cleared, if one of the aircraft wasn’t following instructions, or what.
This all happened right as the flight attendants were about to begin their beverage service, so while no passengers were injured, two flight attendants reportedly sustained injuries. Hopefully they make a quick recovery.
Southwest has released the following statement about the incident:
The crew of Southwest 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. The flight continued to Las Vegas, where it landed uneventfully.
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. We appreciate the professionalism of our Flight Crew and Flight Attendants in responding to this event. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees.
Meanwhile the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released the following statement:
We are aware of an incident involving Southwest Airlines Flight 1496. The FAA is in contact with Southwest Airlines and we are investigating. Ensuring the safety of everyone in the national airspace system remains our top priority.
What passengers have to say about the inflight scare
This incident first got a lot of attention based on online reports from passengers, as is often the case with issues like this. Here’s how one Reddit user described the ordeal:
My connecting flight from Burbank to Las Vegas today almost collided with another plane midair due to the fault of the traffic controllers. Our pilot had to make the most insane dive ever to avoid the other aircraft. 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.
Meanwhile below is another report from a passenger, who described the need to “dive aggressively,” and claimed “plenty of people flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling.”
I’ve gotta say, the perception of how big the fall was is quite interesting. That’s not surprising, since people really don’t have a sense of that when onboard an aircraft. One passenger claimed the plane dove thousands of feet…
…while another passenger claimed the plane dropped 20 to 30 feet:
About 10 minutes into the flight, we plummeted pretty far, and I looked around, and everyone was like, “OK, that’s normal.” 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.
In all honesty, this does sound like a scary incident, and I’m sure it was very unpleasant for all onboard.
Bottom line
A Southwest Boeing 737 flying from Burbank to Las Vegas had more excitement than passengers bargained for, as the aircraft got too close for comfort to another jet. The pilots ended up obeying the TCAS alert, which caused both a steep descent and steep climb. The plane dropped nearly 500 feet, leading to two flight attendant injuries.
What do you make of this Southwest 737 incident?
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