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A southwest flight away from Burbank Airport suddenly descended hundreds of feet on Friday afternoon, possibly avoiding a collision in the air.
The plane was 14,100 feet above the Angeles National Forest, heading northeast, at 12:03pm, at 13,625 feet, which fell to 13,625 feet in Las Vegas, Flightradar24 data showed.
The drop of about 500 feet came after the plane had steadily increased altitude since takeoff, causing a tense moment in the plane. Passengers said on social media that they were surprised by the move.
Steve Ulasewicz, 33, was on the plane. A Woodland Hills resident felt it had suddenly fallen about eight minutes after the flight, and thought the turbulence was bad.
After a two- or three-second pause, the plane went “free falling for about 8-10 seconds,” he said. “People were screaming. I could feel my body coming out of my chair.”
In his lifetime of flight, he never felt anything like that. “I thought it was – I thought we were all dead,” he said. “I don’t want to die,” Ulasewicz told a friend sitting nearby in the fall.
Passengers were confused after the plane was leveled. Ulasewicz wondered if there were some mechanical issues with bird strikes. He said, “I’ve been waiting for the longest 2-3 minutes.” [his] Life before pilots come to Intercom to announce near collisions,” he said.
He saw the female attendant with an ice pack on her head. Unlike the passengers, she was prepared to serve drinks, so she did not buckle during the ascent.
After the horrors of the incident, Ulasewicz said the revelation that his plane was involved in a near miss turned his emotions into anger. He has listed many similar cases in the US skies in recent months.
The commercial flight had to climb and descend to comply with two onboard traffic alerts, Southwest spokesman Lynnlandsford said in a statement in the Times.
“The flights continued to Las Vegas, where on average landed,” the statement said. “Southwest is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to further understand the situation.”
“The injury was not reported immediately by the client, but two flight attendants are being treated for the injury,” said Lansford.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the written incident.
The jet headed southwest towards Ventura County, Naval Base, Point Mugu, at a similar altitude (14,525 feet) per Frigtradal 24 when flights dropped in the southwestern region.
The planes were about five miles apart, within 400 feet of each other, and were heading in the opposite direction when the southwest flight took evasive action, flight data on the website showed.
Time analysis of flight data estimated that if the plane had each course, it could have been that the aircraft had collided within 20 seconds of the detour. The military aircraft were descending from above as commercial flights rose from below, causing them to collide with the mountains northeast of Santa Clarita.
Jet stopped his own stable descent and maintained his height for a few minutes in the incident. It was unclear whether Jet belonged to the military, as the Upper Place holder was a Delaware company. The Navy Base did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The plane landed in Las Vegas at 12:39pm on Friday.
The focus has been on aviation safety for the past few months.
A string of radar outages at Newar Liberty International Airport caused massive flight delays in May. Federal officials continue to investigate the January clash in Washington between a commercial jet and a military helicopter that killed 67 people.
In San Diego, a private jet crashed in June, with all six people on board. Federal investigations found that the aircraft was flying too low and being slammed by the house before it hits a power line.
The automated system providing weather conditions and runway lighting was not working at the airport before the plane collided, the report confirmed.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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