FAA investigates after Southwest plane crashes ‘within 400 feet’ of Pacific Ocean | Airline industry

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a Southwest Airlines flight reportedly plunged “within 400 feet” of the Pacific Ocean during a flight.

A memo distributed to Southwest pilots, obtained by Bloomberg, says the Boeing 737 Max 8 plunged at a speed of 4,000 feet per minute off the coast of Hawaii, coming within hundreds of feet of the ocean before heading to safety.

News of the incident comes as investigators said a Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by Southwest suffered significant damage after performing a “Dutch roll” during a flight from Phoenix to Oakland in May.

The dive off Hawaii occurred on April 11, under adverse weather conditions. The plane was flying from Honolulu to Lihue when it experienced a rapid descent, Bloomberg reported. The report said the descent brought the plane about 400 feet above the ocean, according to data from a flight tracking website.

No one was hurt. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than safety,” the airline said in a statement released to media. Thanks to our strong safety management system, the event was managed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.

The FAA told CNN it immediately became aware of the incident and launched an investigation. The plane was eventually rerouted to Honolulu.

In a separate incident, Bloomberg reported Friday that a Boeing 737 Max suffered damage to parts of the plane’s structure after going into a “Dutch roll” during a Southwest Airlines flight in May.

The incident occurred while the plane was flying at an altitude of 34,000 feet between Arizona and California. The Associated Press reported that the plane landed safely, but said Southwest did not notify the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the roll or damage to the airliner until June 7.

“Following the event, SWA performed maintenance on the aircraft and discovered damage to structural components,” the NTSB said.

A Dutch roll occurs when the tail of the plane slides from side to side and the plane tilts in a way that causes the wings to roll up and down.

An FAA report says “substantial” damage was found to a unit that controls emergency power to the plane’s rudder. It is unclear what triggered the incident, which is the latest to involve a Boeing 737 Max.

In January, the FAA ordered nearly 200 Boeing 737 Max 9s to stop flying after a piece of fuselage exploded out of the plane mid-flight. The planes were cleared to return to the air after undergoing an extensive inspection and maintenance process.

Last year, Southwest agreed to pay a record $140 million civil penalty after a December 2022 holiday collapse left 2 million passengers stranded at U.S. airports. The airline canceled 8,000 flights over a four-day period following a winter storm.

The U.S. Department of Transportation found that Southwest violated consumer protection laws by failing to provide adequate customer service “through its call center to hundreds of thousands of customers,” as well as failing to provide fast flight status notifications to over a million passengers and fast refunds to thousands.