The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a troubling incident involving a Southwest Airlines flight bound for Tampa International Airport. On July 14, the Boeing 737 MAX experienced a rapid descent, plunging more than 1,500 feet in just over a minute and coming within 150 feet of the surface of Tampa Bay.
According to public flight tracking data, the incident occurred shortly after 7 p.m., while the plane was still miles from its destination. The aircraft, which had taken off from Columbus, Ohio, should have been more than 1,000 feet above the surface at that point. Instead, it was flying dangerously low, at about the height of a 15-story building.
The plane encountered stormy weather conditions, with light rain and gusts of up to 20 mph, as reported by a weather station at Tampa International Airport. Due to the poor conditions, the flight was rerouted to Fort Lauderdale.
A recording of air traffic control communications, uploaded to YouTube, reveals that an operator alerted the pilots to their perilously low altitude. The aircraft then quickly ascended about 1,000 feet.
Veteran commercial pilot Robert Katz, a certified flight instructor in Texas, expressed concern over the pilots’ apparent lack of awareness. “Wind shear could have swatted the airplane like a fly into Tampa Bay,” Katz said, emphasizing that the pilots should have been monitoring the plane’s descent without needing a controller’s alert.
Katz further criticized the decision-making process, stating that the rerouting decision should have been made earlier if conditions were deemed poor enough to warrant it. “These pilots are going to have a lot of explaining to do,” he added.
In response to the incident, the FAA issued a statement confirming the ongoing investigation. A spokesperson for Tampa International Airport declined to comment, referring inquiries to Southwest Airlines.
“Southwest is following its robust Safety Management System and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and address any irregularities,” Southwest said in a statement. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”
The incident was highlighted by Ben Schlappig on his flight blog, One Mile at a Time, where he described it as a “near catastrophe.” Schlappig speculated that the pilots might have misidentified the Courtney Campbell Causeway as a runway.
Katz acknowledged this possibility but noted it would indicate extreme pilot fatigue. He stressed that incidents like this typically occur when pilots are inattentive due to stress or fatigue, exacerbated by poor weather conditions. “There are plenty of indications inside the cockpit that the airplane is getting too low,” Katz said. “Lots of checks and balances in place to get somebody’s attention to say, you know, wake up, do something.”
This event follows a similar incident last month in Oklahoma City, where a Southwest jet flew at an unusually low altitude miles from the airport. In April, another Southwest flight came within 400 feet of the ocean off the coast of Hawaii before climbing again. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating a Southwest jet that experienced a “Dutch roll” and was found to have tail damage after a flight from Phoenix to Oakland, California, during severe storm conditions.
