FAA investigates Southwest Tampa-bound plane that crashed 150 feet above water

A Southwest Airlines flight bound for Tampa International Airport made a rapid descent on July 14, dropping more than 1,500 feet in just over a minute and landing 150 feet from the surface. in Tampa Bay.

The incident occurred shortly after 7pm, according to civil aviation tracking data, when the plane was still several kilometers from its destination. At that time, the Federal Aviation Administration flight chart shows, the plane should have been more than 1,000 feet above the water.

Instead it flew about the height of a 15-story building.

The plane – a Boeing 737 MAX – went down during a storm, with light rain and winds of up to 20 mph, according to the weather station at Tampa International Airport. Conditions were so bad that the plane that had left Columbus, Ohio, was diverted to Fort Lauderdale.

An air traffic controller warned the pilots of the plane’s low level, according to a recording of the communications posted on YouTube. At that time, the plane rapidly climbed about 1,000 feet.

Robert Katz, a former commercial pilot, said that while flying near the surface, an airlock — a sudden change in speed or direction of the wind — would have “stirred the plane like a fly to Tampa.” Bay.”

Katz, a certified flight instructor from Texas, said the pilots don’t seem to be looking at the landing. He said the pilots should have known that they were flying in a dangerous area without the commander warning them.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” Katz said. “These drivers are going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

He added that if the conditions were bad enough to require the plane to be diverted, that decision should have been made long before the plane landed.

The FAA said in a statement that the incident is under investigation. A spokeswoman for Tampa International Airport declined to comment, referring to Southwest.

“Southwest follows a rigorous Security Compliance System and is cooperating with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and resolve any violations,” Southwest’s statement said. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”

Ben Schlappig, who warned of the rapid descent on his aviation blog One Mile at a Time, wrote on Monday that the incident was a “near disaster.” He speculated that the pilots may have mistaken the Courtney Campbell Causeway – a long, straight road – for a runway, and descended with the intention of landing.

Katz says that’s a possibility – but only if the pilots were very tired. He said incidents like this usually happen when pilots are not paying attention due to stress or fatigue, which can be aggravated by bad weather conditions.

“There’s a lot of signs in the cockpit that the plane is going down too much,” Katz said. something.”

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The flight followed a similar incident last month in Oklahoma City where a Southwest Airlines flight flew at an unusually low altitude while still miles from the airport.

In April, a Southwest plane dived off the coast of Hawaii and came within 400 feet of the ocean before the plane began to climb.

The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating a Southwest jet that performed an unusual “Dutch roll” and was found to have damage to its tail after a flight from Phoenix to Oakland, California. Investigators say the plane was parked outside during a severe storm.

Times Staff Writers Lesley Cosme Torres and Shauna Muckle contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press.