US plane drops 300 feet in 36 seconds after mid-air collision warning with UK fighter jet
A Southwest Airlines flight from California took the 92-metre plunge shortly after take-off, injuring two flight attendants
The plane suddenly jolted shortly after take-off then felt like it was falling, said Stef Zamorano, who was flying to Las Vegas with her husband to celebrate his birthday.
In front of her, Zamorano saw a woman who was not wearing her seat belt shoot up and out of her seat, her long hair flying in a tangled mess. The man seated next to her was clutching her arm, and she said the woman across the aisle was panicking.
“She was pretty much verbalising how we all felt, saying, ‘I want to get off this plane. I want to be on the ground,’” Zamorano said.
Data from the flight tracking site FlightAware showed that the aircraft dropped roughly 300 feet (91.44 metres) in 36 seconds.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the flight, Southwest 1496, was responding to an on-board alert about another aircraft in its vicinity. The FAA is investigating.