By David Shepardson
(Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mentioned Saturday it’s investigating a Southwest Airways (NYSE:) flight after it flew at a really low altitude over Tampa Bay, Florida, the latest in a collection of incidents elevating security questions.
The July 14 flight by a Southwest Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX that had departed from Columbus, Ohio, was roughly 3 miles (5 km)from the Tampa airport when it dropped to as little as about 175 ft (53 meters), in line with Flightradar24 knowledge. An air site visitors controller alerted the crew of Southwest Flight 425 to their low altitude and the aircraft was diverted to Fort Lauderdale.
Southwest mentioned Saturday is involved with the FAA “to know and handle any irregularities” following the July 14 flight. “Nothing is extra essential to Southwest than the security of our clients and staff,” the airline added.
This was the newest in a string of Southwest flights which have raised security issues, together with a Southwest 737 flight in April that got here inside about 400 ft (122 meters) of the ocean off Hawaii after the primary officer inadvertently pushed ahead on the management column and the aircraft hit a most descent fee of about 4,400 ft per minute.
The FAA can be investigating one other very low altitude Southwest flight about 9 miles (14.5 km) from the Oklahoma Metropolis airport. The June 19 incident involving Southwest Airways Flight 4069 that had departed from Las Vegas dropped to about 500 ft. After an alert sounded, an air site visitors controller alerted the flight crew.
The U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board and FAA are additionally investigating a Southwest 737 MAX flight on Might 25 that skilled a “Dutch roll” at 34,000 ft whereas en route from Phoenix, Arizona, to Oakland, California. Such lateral uneven actions are named after a Dutch ice skating method and might pose critical security dangers.
The FAA can be investigating a June 25 Southwest flight that departed from a closed runway in Portland, Maine.
