Plane suddenly drops 500 feet to ‘avoid mid-air collision’ with British jet fighter

A Southwest Airlines plane abruptly dropped 500 feet reportedly to avoid a mid-air collision with a British jet fighter.

Flight 1496 plummeted from 14,100 feet to 13,625 feet in only six minutes shortly after departing from Hollywood Burbank Airport in California on Friday.

Passenger Steve Ulasewicz said he ‘felt a significant drop’ that lasted eight to 10 seconds and that ‘the plane was just in a freefall’.

‘People were screaming,’ Ulasewicz told NBCLA.

‘It was pandemonium.’

He said the pilot announced that the plane used software to avoid getting into a mid-air collision.

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