A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 came within 150 feet of the water while still 3 miles out from Tampa airport. Flight 425 from Columbus diverted to Fort Lauderdale.
Southwest Airlines 737 MAX descends dangerously low over the waters of Tampa Bay after descending to 150 feet 4 miles from landing at Tampa Airport. pic.twitter.com/qKifoP0gET
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 20, 2024
ATC alerted the Southwest plane that they were dangerously low: “Southwest 425, low altitude alert, check your altitude. Tampa’s altimeter is 30.14.” There was rain in the area at the time with probable low visibility and the flight ended up going around after the incident during approach.
- “There was rain in the area at the time with probable low visibility”
- Air traffic control suggested the possibility of an incorrect altimeter setting.
The Southwest flight made a go-around and landed safely at its diversion airport before continuing to Tampa.
This comes less than a month after a Southwest Airlines flight descended to just over 500 feet while still 9 miles out from the Oklahoma City airport. In April, a Southwest Airlines flight in Hawaii came within 400 feet of the Pacific Ocean. Last month a Southwest Airlines flight took off from a closed runway
Terrifying indeed, from the description of conditions, they may have been close to pulling a “JFK Jr”. The video was excellent, was impressed by the professionalism of the Tower/Flight Deck communication.
Why did they need to divert to Ft. Lauderdale?
I guess the pilots flying the plane were very lucky with their tricky flying, even though they probably need more trainin in flying before they go out again
DEI quotas in the airline industry. We will see more of this unfortunately.
That’s a load of crap, Anthony. No one gets to fly for a major carrier without legitimately passing a lot of hurdles. Leave your prejudice at home.
I agree with gregggb57. I bet most of the pilots in all of these Southwest incidents were white. Obvi Anthony has a lot of insecurities and inferiority complex issues. My money’s on a micropenis
You don’t mention actual weather conditions. Thunderstorms in the area? Wind issues?
Something was bad enough with the weather to cause the diversion. RSW does not have the same level of airfield support TPA does.
ATC will always verify the altimeter setting with an altitude issue. That allows the pilot to do a quick visual check rather than looking for the setting to verify.
Lots more to this than just a low level decent. Would like to know the rest.
It’s only terrifying if the knew that they were at 150 feet. Which for the most part it seems they didn’t.
Of the three incidents mentioned this is the closest call – seconds away from skimming the water
FR24 already discloses its displayed altitudes are standard atmosphere setting (29.92). So when the actual setting is 30.14, we’re talking about 250 feet should be added, so the plane’s lowest point is actually 400 feet.
With one sentence Anthony supported the concept that the “anti DEI” folks lack enough basic intelligence to override their preconceived prejudices and emotional urges rather than reality. SWA appears to be having issues and there’s certainly not enough here to figure out what, but they do have a unique culture and attitude in the industry. No indication that the crews were hired under some kind of DEI quota and of course whatever their background the Captains and likely F/O’s too had years of experience flying 737’s and proved themselves capable of the job over and over again through all their training and checkrides….what the heck is going on at SWA though?
Delta had a similar stretch back in the late 80’s and 90’s that brought intense FAA scrutiny on them and resulted in Delta revamping their CRM training from poor to industry leading….back than the FAA noted that Deltas run of incidents and actual crashes where a result of too many pilots from a single pilot background that weren’t working well together as a crew……in other words, all the young white ex fighter pilots they hired.
Fort Lauderdale is not RSW.
What is going on at Southwest? More than an insignificant number of bad news stories in the past few months.
@greggb57 hate to inform you but you cannot conflate questions about DEI with racism. Rather, it is a question of qualification and meritocracy. The racism card has been played so much it is now worthless.
@Doug, regarding the weather, sorry you missed it. In the article, Gary mentioned “There was rain in the area at the time with probable low visibility”, and if you watch the YouTube Video, ther’s a lot more about it.
No worries at 150 ft. Sully brought her all the way down when he put her in the Hudson.
But there’s always different weather events in fla. Are they blindly depending too much on software? melissa
I will not fly commercial anymore due to demorats and biden pushing dei from day one. ATC and airport towers are riddled with incompetent dei hires. Just look at all the runway incursions at major airports. Two at Reagan just a couple of weeks ago. Dei is a scurge and a disease. Fortunately companies are realizing it, canning it, and going back to hiring on experience, education, and merit. You leftist lunatics commenting on here can call me, and other people, whatever you want due to the first amendment. But all leftists are sick, moronic, racists.
DEI has infected the airline industry also.
I would like to know more about all three pilots mentioned in this article.