South
Terrified passengers ‘flew out of their seats’ during dramatic Southwest nosedive to avoid mid-air crash
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Passengers aboard Southwest flight 1496 from Burbank, California to Las Vegas, Nevada experienced a frightening few seconds when the aircraft took a sudden nosedive to avoid a midair collision shortly after takeoff.
The dramatic maneuver caused passengers to fly up out of their seats and into the ceiling as children and adults screamed, fearing the worst.
Two flight attendants are being treated for injuries, a Southwest Airlines spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The Southwest Airlines flight reportedly had to perform a nose dive to avoid an incoming plane. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANE MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING AFTER ENGINE STARTS SMOKING
Caitlin Burdi, who was on flight 1496, told Fox News Digital she had been on the same flight path before, so she knew the extreme turbulence was abnormal.
“About 10 minutes into the flight, we plummeted pretty far, and I looked around, and everyone was like, ‘OK, that’s normal’,” Burdi said. “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.”
Southwest confirmed the crew responded to two onboard traffic alerts after takeoff, at about 11 a.m. local time, “requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts.”
At least one flight attendant was injured in the incident, passengers said. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANE HIT WITH ‘UNEXPECTED TURBULENCE,’ 5 HOSPITALIZED
The airline said the flight continued to Las Vegas, where it landed “uneventfully,” according to a statement.
“Southwest is engaged with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to further understand the circumstances,” Southwest wrote. “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.”
The FAA noted “another aircraft was in the vicinity while in Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center airspace.”
Passengers took to social media to share their harrowing stories of the flight. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
SMALL PLANE HIT POWER LINES BEFORE DEADLY SAN DIEGO CRASH, NTSB CONFIRMS
One flight attendant was dazed after hitting her head, passengers said. Another flight attendant announced he was quitting.
Following the dramatic drop, the pilot came on the intercom and said the plane almost collided with another plane, and they had lost air traffic control signal.
“It was absolutely terrifying,” Burdi said. “I just remember him saying, ‘What just happened was we almost collided with another plane, and I had to make the emergency attempt to go under because we lost service with the air traffic controller.’”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Other passengers on the fearful flight took to social media to share their experience.
“Myself & Plenty of people flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant needed medical attention,” stand-up comedian Jimmy Dore wrote in an X post. “Pilot said his collision warning went off & he needed to avoid plane coming at us. Wow.”
The FAA said it is investigating.
Delaware
State Police Arrest Dover Man for Assault and Aggravated Menacing in Dover – Delaware State Police – State of Delaware
Date Posted: Saturday, April 18th, 2026
The Delaware State Police have arrested 45-year-old Joseph Chapler, from Dover, Delaware, following an assault and aggravated menacing incident that occurred Thursday night in Dover.
On April 16, 2026, at approximately 10:20 p.m., troopers responded to the parking lot of Microtel, located at 1703 East Lebanon Road in Dover for a report of an assault and aggravated menacing. When troopers arrived, they learned that a man and woman were walking on a path behind the Microtel when they were approached by an unknown male suspect. The suspect threatened the victims, pointed a gun at them, and sprayed the female victim with pepper spray before running away. The victims ran to safety and called 9-1-1. The female victim was treated by EMS but refused medical attention.
Through investigative means, detectives identified Joseph Chapler as the suspect and obtained a warrant for his arrest.
On April 17th, Chapler was arrested and taken to Troop 3, where he was charged with the crimes listed below, arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 2, and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution on a $94,001 cash bond.

- Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony (Felony)
- Assault 2nd Degree (Felony) – 2 counts
- Aggravated Menacing (Felony) – 2 counts
- Terroristic Threatening – 2 counts
- Criminal Trespass 3rd Degree
If you or someone you know is a victim or witness of a crime or have lost a loved one to a sudden death and need assistance, the Delaware State Police Victim Services Unit / Delaware Victim Center is available to offer you support and resources 24 hours a day through a toll-free hotline at 1-800-VICTIM-1 (1-800-842-8461). You may also email the Victim Services Unit at DSP_VictimServicesMail@delaware.gov.
Disclaimer: Any individual charged in this release is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
View All News Posts
Florida
SNAP benefits will be changing in Florida starting Monday
TAMPA, Fla – New SNAP restrictions will start Monday in Florida.
What we know:
These changes will ban the purchase of many sugary sodas, energy drinks, candy and ultra-processed, shelf-stable prepared desserts.
Hunger Free America, an advocacy group, is against these restrictions.
Joel Berg, the CEO, said some regulation is a good thing, but he wants to see it support access to healthy foods as a choice.
“We do support mandates to mandate that healthier food is available in stores that do accept SNAP,” Berg said. “So, it makes a lot more sense to make it easier to get healthier food.”
Berg said these restrictions are unnecessary in achieving a healthier America.
“We should make America healthier again by making healthy food more affordable, convenient and physically available,” Berg said. “We shouldn’t micromanage the eating patterns of adults to try to achieve that goal.”
The other side:
This is part of the Make America Healthy Again initiative.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said, “Under the MAHA initiative, we are taking bold, historic steps to reverse the chronic disease epidemic that has taken root in this country for far too long.”
What they’re saying:
Berg said that these changes, on top of cuts to the program nationwide, will increase hunger.
“It’s not that low-income Americans don’t want healthier food; it’s that they can’t afford healthier food,” Berg said.
This coincides with the announcement that there will be cuts to WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which supplies food to mothers and young children.
“President Trump’s budget just announced that he’s proposing taking away fruits and vegetables from the WIC program for pregnant women and children under five,” Berg said. “So, they’re taking away healthier food.”
The WIC cuts would take away $1.4 billion in fruit and vegetable benefits from 5.4 million people.
Big picture view:
The SNAP changes come as part of the MAHA movement and include more than 20 other states that will implement changes over the next two years.
The Source: Information in this story comes from WIC, SNAP and interviews done by Fox 13’s Danielle Zulkosky.
Georgia
Georgia on nobody’s mind: The Dawgs are under the radar, and that’s a compliment
ATHENS, Ga — Behold, in all the usual glory, the Georgia football team: elite of the elite, two-time defending SEC champion, expected to contend for a national title. And behold the attention on this same team: not much, to the point of being overlooked, including by many of its fans.
Georgia held its spring game Saturday, and official attendance was 31,012, the lowest-attended spring game of Kirby Smart’s tenure, other than the pandemic-restricted game five years ago. The two upper sections of Sanford Stadium, full a decade ago for Smart’s first G-Day, were empty Saturday.
Part of it was outside factors: The hot weather. The devaluing of spring games throughout college football. Other things to do in Athens, including the annual Twilight bike race. Maybe the middle school Science Olympiad state competition on campus drew some away.
But part of it is the state of things for this Georgia team: No drama. No quarterback competition. No new coordinators. No worries about the program slipping. The drama, it’s assumed, won’t come until December and will revolve around whether this team can break a three-year drought of at least reaching the national semifinals.
But right now? Eh.
“I don’t like drama, so that’s a good thing,” quarterback Gunner Stockton said, smiling.
The best comparison for the current Georgia program might be from another sport but the same state: the Bobby Cox-era Atlanta Braves.
It was just a given that the Braves would be good, and they normally would be, with 11 straight division titles at one point. There would be offseasons when rivals would make more noise, and then spring training would roll around, and Cox would tell reporters (like me): “I like this team.” And sure enough, the Braves would go win the NL East by 10 games.
Then they’d flame out in the postseason, which, to be fair, was a crapshoot, as the expanded College Football Playoff is developing into, to Georgia’s chagrin. But no program has been to the CFP as many times (four) as Georgia in the past five years. And this year’s team is easily preseason top 10.
This can make for a boring spring. The most interesting thing to happen was probably Stockton’s passing being called “dog doo” by former NFL receiver Steve Smith, and Smart shooting back, “Do your homework.” Even that was mild enough that neither was asked about it Saturday, at least specific to Smith. The subject of Stockton airing it out hangs over this team. But it’s a relatively minor issue within a team that seems to have plenty else going for it.
Georgia’s defense, which has been hit or miss the past couple of years, should be back to being very good. There’s the usual array of talent but now also plenty of experience. It won’t be as great as the 2021 version — none will be in this era — but it can be dominant.
Georgia’s offense should at minimum be efficient: Stockton enters his second full season as the starter, has two game-changing tailbacks in Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens, an experienced offensive line and some good pieces at receiver and tight end.
The questions that would take this team from good to great …
Explosive passing
There are two issues here:
1. Georgia lost six of its top seven players in receiving yards and didn’t add a star transfer like it did last year with Zachariah Branch, who set the school record with 81 catches.
2. Stockton was inconsistent throwing downfield. He was fantastic at Tennessee and in the first Ole Miss game. He seemed afraid to air it out in other games, though, including the second Ole Miss game.
Returning starter Gunner Stockton said he’s working to improve his pocket presence and footwork. (Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
On the receiver front, Georgia did add Isiah Canion from Georgia Tech to be an outside, possession-type receiver. Otherwise, Georgia spent its money retaining young receivers — sophomores Talyn Taylor, CJ Wiley, Sacovie White-Helton and Thomas Blackshear — and hoping they pop this year.
Between them, senior receiver London Humphreys and tight ends Lawson Luckie, Elyiss Williams and Jaden Reddell, there might not be a Branch or Brock Bowers, but there are plenty of options.
“They’ve got to grow up,” Smart said. “We’ve got guys that can make plays if given the opportunity. Gunner can get the ball to them.”
Stockton showed he could do that last year — but not every week. He needs to not be tentative or over-reliant on his scrambling ability. To that end, Stockton said he’s working on his pocket presence and footwork. But he also cautioned it’s not just about slinging it downfield all the time.
“Every explosive play isn’t a 50-yard bomb downfield; it’s just getting the ball to your playmakers,” he said. “And I think we’ve got the playmakers to do that.”
It is a deep group. But unless one emerges as a clear No. 1, the way Branch and Bowers were, it will be on Stockton to find the right ones on the right plays. That might make it hard to be explosive every week, even though Stockton said that’s the goal.
“It’s hard to do that,” he said. “But it’s what we’re here for.”
Pass rush
Does everyone remember Trinidad Chambliss scrambling free and hitting game-changing plays in the Sugar Bowl? That wasn’t a one-off. Georgia had the fewest sacks — 20 — in the SEC last year. Sacks might not be the best measure of a pass rush, but that number is still bad and reflected the defense’s weakness.
Will that turn around? One positive is that Gabe Harris Jr. is healthy; Harris was coming on last year as a factor before being hurt in December and could have helped keep Chambliss in check. But spring brought some bad news with an ACL injury to edge rusher Amaris Williams, an Auburn transfer who had a chance to get major snaps. Still, there are options, such as junior Que Johnson, and the secondary could be good enough to buy time for the pass rush.
Smart seems optimistic.
“Pass rush is something that’s done as a group, not just one person,” he said, mentioning linebacker Chris Cole stepping up and defensive linemen doing better at getting a push. “That’s something you always want to get better at, but I’m very pleased at where we are.”
Smart didn’t exactly invoke Cox’s “I like this team.” But he essentially said it. Normally fairly critical, he said there was only one practice this spring, out of 12, that he didn’t like. Otherwise, he loved the team’s approach.
“They enjoy it; they compete,” Smart said.
Left tackle Earnest Greene III is one of the few remaining pieces from the national championship teams. He was a true freshman in 2022. Though not exactly comparing it to that team, Greene sees something about this 2026 version.
“The competitive nature of this team seems a little bit different,” Greene said. “It goes back to the first (spring) scrimmage. Usually, the first scrimmage is more one-sided; the next time, the other side shows up. This year, both scrimmages have been going neck-and-neck at each other. So I can just tell from that we have a real competitive squad.”
So the vibe of this team, Greene was asked, is no drama, but in a good way?
“Yeah, definitely,” Greene said. “You try to have your team be like that every year.”
So far, this Georgia team is pulling it off. But there’s a long way until September.
And then December.
-
Delaware2 minutes agoState Police Arrest Dover Man for Assault and Aggravated Menacing in Dover – Delaware State Police – State of Delaware
-
Florida8 minutes agoSNAP benefits will be changing in Florida starting Monday
-
Georgia14 minutes agoGeorgia on nobody’s mind: The Dawgs are under the radar, and that’s a compliment
-
Hawaii20 minutes agoLarge section of Aloha Stadium demolished as project proceeds – West Hawaii Today
-
Idaho26 minutes ago
Idaho Lottery results: See winning numbers for Powerball, Pick 3 on April 18, 2026
-
Illinois32 minutes ago5 tornadoes confirmed in Illinois from Friday’s storms
-
Indiana38 minutes agoAn Indiana district turned to voters to fund more preschool seats. Here’s what happened next.
-
Iowa44 minutes agoVote: Who Should be Iowa’s High School Athlete of the Week? (4/19/2026)