SFO-Bound Flight’s Sudden Move to Avoid Potential Collision Left 4 Injured, Report Says

An incident that injured four people on a United Airlines flight headed for San Francisco International Airport last year was caused by the pilots pulling up suddenly to avoid a midair collision with another plane, according to the final report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.

After Flight 2428 from New Jersey was cleared by air traffic control to begin its descent into SFO on Sept. 19, 2024, pilots on the Boeing 757 received a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) alert warning them of another aircraft crossing 1,500 feet below.

The pilots responded to the alert by engaging in an abrupt emergency maneuver as the first officer reduced the plane’s vertical speed and disengaged the autopilot before pitching the plane upward, following TCAS guidance, according to the NTSB report released last week.

Although the sudden maneuver avoided a potential collision, it took passengers and crew members by surprise.

“Two flight attendants were in the forward galley cleaning in preparation for the initial descent announcement. These two flight attendants fell to the floor during the maneuver and sustained minor injuries,” the NTSB report read. “There were two passengers in the aft lavatories at the time of the maneuver. One passenger flew upwards and landed forward, fracturing the L2 spinal vertebrae. The other passenger was exiting the lavatory when he flew upwards and landed on his leg, resulting in a fractured ankle.”

Paramedics met the aircraft at SFO upon its landing, and the injured passengers were taken to a hospital. United Airlines declined to comment on the incident.

Concern over air travel safety has intensified since a Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., killed 67 people.

But midair collisions are quite rare, said John Cox, a retired airline pilot and aviation safety consultant. Air travel safety systems such as TCAS have been very effective at preventing serious accidents, he said, adding that a lot of the anxieties around air travel now are a result of increased focus on minor incidents that do not typically gain a lot of attention.

The safety of the aviation system is very much intact, Cox said. Any increase in the number of near midair collisions can likely be attributed to an increase in air travel and congestion more broadly, he said.

“The likelihood of an actual midair collision has dropped dramatically to near zero,” Cox said. “I recognize the tragic midair collision in Washington … but the TCAS system as a redundancy to a very good and professional air traffic control system has really lowered the possibility of midair collision.”

In February, the Trump administration began firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, including those responsible for managing the FAA radar and maintaining landing and navigational aid. While air traffic controllers were exempted from the probationary firings, the FAA has also struggled with an understaffed air control system for years.

According to Cox, the difficulty in hiring air traffic controllers is partly due to decreases in congressional funding for the FAA, which plays a critical role in maintaining air travel safety. As the demand for air travel grows, funding and support for the aviation administration needs to grow as well, Cox said.

“We have an increasing demand in air travel, and we have an increase in demand for improved aviation safety,” Cox said. “But to do that, we need a highly effective regulator. … We need all the components of the FAA. We need them fully staffed by highly qualified people, and it needs to be a good career for people coming into the industry.”