Imagine being on a plane ride, excitement bubbling as you soar towards Las Vegas, only to have your world turned upside down—literally. On Friday, Southwest flight 1496, taking off from Burbank to Vegas, experienced a terrifying plunge shortly after takeoff, leaving two flight attendants injured and passengers in a state of shock.

According to statements from Southwest Airlines, the plane received two alarms prompting it to climb and then suddenly descend. Flight trackers from FlightRadar24 and AirNavRadar reveal that this nail-biting episode occurred to avoid a possible collision with a Hawker Hunter jet, a military-style aircraft registered to a non-citizen corporation, as per FAA registration logs.

Despite the chaotic turn of events, the flight managed to land safely in Las Vegas, described by the airline as “uneventful.” However, the FAA is now stepping in alongside Southwest to investigate the alarming incident. They stated, “Ensuring the safety of everyone in the national airspace system remains our top priority.”

The near-miss prompted social media to explode with discussions and videos showing the paths of both aircraft in real-time simulations. One tweet captured the sentiment perfectly: “The good news is your 737 got an automated alert, your crew did what they were supposed to do and so your aircraft didn't get dangerously close to the other.”

For passengers like Caitlin Burdi, the experience was akin to the terrifying theme park ride, “Tower of Terror.” Speaking with Fox News, Burdi recounted, “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.”

Famous YouTube personality Jimmy Dore also chimed in, sharing his experience on social media. “Myself and plenty of people flew out of their seats and bumped heads on the ceiling,” he reported. “A flight attendant needed medical attention. The pilot said his collision warning went off, and he needed to avoid a plane coming at us.”

This incident marks at least the second alarming near-miss in the U.S. this week, following a Delta flight that nearly collided with a B-52 bomber while traveling from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota. Just months before, another passenger jet had a similar brush with a military plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a tragedy that claimed at least 67 lives.