A Southwest Airlines plane on the runway at Dallas Love Field.
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A Southwest Airlines flight dropped to just 525 feet above the ground on Wednesday.The incident prompted an altitude warning and an FAA investigation.A Southwest flight dropped dangerously low off the coast of Hawaii in April.
A Southwest Airlines flight dropped dangerously low over an Oklahoma town while preparing to land on Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating Southwest Flight 4069 after the aircraft descended to just 525 feet above the ground, the agency said this week.
“After an automated warning sounded, an air traffic controller alerted the crew of Southwest Airlines Flight 4069 that the aircraft had descended to a low altitude nine miles away from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City,” the FAA said in a statement.
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The plane was just above Yukon, Oklahoma, when its altitude prompted an alert, according to flight radar data, which shows the incident occurred right after midnight on Wednesday.
An air controller at the airport issued an altitude alert to the plane’s crew, asking if the pilot was “good,” according to CNN.
The Boeing 737-800 jet quickly adjusted and momentarily re-ascended before landing safely at the airport.
A spokesperson for Southwest told Business Insider said the airline is following its “robust” safety management system and has been in contact with the FAA in an effort to “understand and address any irregularities with the aircraft’s approach to the airport.”
“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,” the spokesperson said.
In April, a Southwest flight nearly crashed into the ocean after a pilot accidentally sent the plane into a dive off the coast of Hawaii. A less experienced pilot caused the plane to plummet from an altitude of 1,000 feet to just 400 feet above the Pacific Ocean in a matter of seconds amid bad weather, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
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