Hawaii
FAA investigating Southwest flight in Hawaii that rapidly descended to 400 feet above ocean
FlightAware mapped out the flight path of Southwest Flight 2786 on April 11. We follow the plane as it takes off from Honolulu and approaches Kauai to land at Lihue. Storms forced the pilots to abandon the landing. According to an internal memo leaked to Bloomberg, the first officer “inadvertently” pushed the control column forward causing the plane to drop down to 400 feet. The graph at the bottom shows speed in yellow and altitude in green. The area where the green line is closest to zero feet in the middle of the chart is the incident and recovery.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an April 11 incident when a Southwest Airlines flight abandoned a landing due to weather and then dropped to just 400 feet above the Pacific Ocean.
During the aborted landing and go-around, the first officer flying the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft “inadvertently pushed forward on the control column” and pitched the nose down towards the Earth, according to a Southwest memo sent to pilots about the incident. Bloomberg initially disclosed the leaked memo, and it has since spread across social media.
The plane plunged to almost 400 feet above the ocean before the pilots recovered in an “aggressive climb.”
“I would think there’s a good chance that even in turbulence, passengers would have felt that in their seats,” said former commercial airline pilot and FlightAware spokesperson Kathleen Bangs. “They would have felt the airplane going up and then the drop and then going up again. Hard to know because they know they’re low to the ground.”
Thunderstorms developed south of destination
Severe storms brought flash flooding to parts of Hawaii overnight into Friday, April 12, causing landslides and leaving people stranded. (Video courtesy: Fern Anuenue Holland via Storyful)
HERE’S WHAT CAUSES TURBULENCE AND WHY YOU SHOULDN’T BE AFRAID OF IT
Flight 2786 took off from Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport heading for the Lihue Airport on the island of Kauai at 6:45 p.m. local time, according to FlightAware data. There were thunderstorms developing just south of Lihue when the jet took off and the weather deteriorated through the flight.
The memo also noted that the pilots noticed on radar that several other flights were going around or “performing missed approaches.”
Inexperienced first officer flying
The seasoned captain instructed his newer first officer to fly the short trip to gain experience. The first officer had never flown into Lihue before and only observed the captain fly out of Lihue the day before, according to the leaked memo.
The tower advised the first officer that weather conditions were safe for landing, but the pilot ordered a “go-around” because they could not visually see the runway at the minimum altitude, per Southwest and Federal regulations.
According to the memo, the go-around procedure was intensive. The first officer noticed the plane sped up, which it would do on a descent at the same power. They pulled back the throttle. At that point, the plane started diving at around 4,400 feet per minute.
That is more than five times faster than a decent for landing, according to Bangs.
SOUTHWEST FLIGHT MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING IN FLORIDA DUE TO TURBULENCE
File: Southwest Airlines Co. Boeing 737 passenger jets parked on the tarmac at Midway International Airport (MDW) in Chicago, Illinois.
(Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“Airlines generally do instrument approaches, and you’re following these navigational aids like the glide slope,” Bangs said. “And this glide slope helps you even on a perfectly clear day. And you’re usually coming in around 7 or 800 feet per minute on the descent.”
According to the memo, the first officer told Southwest that they did not hear audible warnings about the plane’s proximity to the ground due to the activity in the cockpit.
“The captain assessed that the aircraft was in an undesirable state based on the GPWS (ground proximity warning system) warning and verbalized, ‘Climb’ and ‘Turn Left’ immediately prompting the first officer to increase thrust,” said the memo.
The jet then climbed “aggressively” at over 8,500 feet per minute. Eventually, the crew returned to Honolulu.
Bangs said climbs could be anywhere from 3,000 or 4,000 feet to 8,000 feet a minute. Pilots use the sleeper climb if there are noise ordinances or mountains around the airport, like in Aspen, Colorado. Rate of climb is very dependent on temperature and humidity.
No one was injured.
Bangs said at the point of the drop, all passengers should have been wearing seat belts.
Southwest’s statement
Bangs said it appears the crew voluntarily reported the incident through the FAA’s Aviation Safety Action Program.
HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER
FILE – A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 plane files in front of the moon.
(Nick Ut / Getty Images)
“I would say the captain self reported it,” Bangs said. “There is a program with the FAA that’s been around for decades now where if pilots encounter something that they feel is a threat to safety, they can self-report it, and then that should minimize any risk of them getting cited for that. So it’s to encourage people not to hide safety events, but to actually come forth with them so that not only the FAA can learn, but that other pilots at that carrier and other carriers can also learn from.”
In a statement to FOX Weather, Southwest said there’s nothing more important to them than safety.
“Through our robust Safety Management System, the event was addressed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement,” a Southwest spokesperson said in the statement.
The demolition of Aloha Stadium on Oahu took a big step forward Thursday with the first section of seating pulled down from the steel structure.
Half of the elevated deck-level seating on the stadium’s makai side was severed and toppled backward as part of demolition work that began in February.
The other half of the upper makai-side seating is slated to come down Tuesday, followed by similar sections on the mauka side and both end zones, though the concrete foundations for lower-level end-zone seating are being preserved for a new, smaller stadium to rise on the same site.
A private partnership, Aloha Halawa District Partners, led by local developer Stanford Carr, is replacing the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium, which opened in 1975 and was shuttered in 2020, with a new stadium featuring up to 31,000 seats.
AHDP is using $350 million of state funding toward the cost of the new stadium, which could be $475 million or more, and will operate and maintain the facility on state land for 30 years with a land lease.
The development team also is to redevelop much of the 98-acre stadium property dominated by parking lots with a new mixed-use community that includes at least 4,100 residences, two hotels, an office tower, retail, entertainment attractions and open spaces expected to be delivered in phases over 25 years and costing close to or more than $5 billion or $6 billion.
Earlier parts of stadium demolition work led by Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. included removing four covered multistory spiral walkways leading to the upper level from the ground, and concourse bridges.
Demolishing the stadium is projected to be done by August, according to Carr.
Building the new facility is expected to be finished in 2029.
Hawaii
This Airbnb Tiny Home Sits on a Lava Field in Hawaii With Unbeatable Night Sky Views—and It’s a Guest Favorite
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The team behind a popular Hawaii-based home renovation show is now facing legal troubles after airing content that shouldn’t have been released, according to the state.
Hawaii’s Attorney General is now involved after HGTV’s ‘Renovation Aloha’ showed uncensored images of apparent ancient skeletal remains that were discovered at a Hilo property.
In a now-deleted clip on social media, Kamohai and Tristyn Kalama, along with the production team, discovered a cave beneath a Hilo property where they found the remains deep inside.
Video documented their shock when it was found, with the hosts saying, “There’s bones back here. I got to get out of here. Are you fricken serious? I’m serious dude. Is that a skull?”
Tristyn was seen standing further back, saying “This is terrifying. I’m at my stopping point” before leaving.
Hawaii News Now is not showing the bones, but confirmed with HGTV the episode was filmed in December 2025.
Video didn’t show them touching or moving the remains, and HGTV said authorities were notified after the discovery, the property was not developed, and the site was later blessed.
At the time, police said no crime was committed, and the state AG obtained a TRO to prevent the broadcast of the images in accordance with state law.
However this week, uncensored video of the bones was posted online by the Kalamas and HGTV, and included in the episode, triggering a quick rebuke from the community.
“We don’t kaula’i iwi. We do not lay our bones out in the sun to expose him in this manner,” former Oahu Island Burial Council Chair Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu said.
She also said the release of the images was “extremely disappointing,” saying the damage was already done.
“It is irrelevant that bones were not moved. It is irrelevant that they were not disturbed, per se, because somebody didn’t touch them — but you went into their space and that space becomes kapu space once they have transitioned over to po. And when you do that, we honor that. We don’t disturb them,” Wong-Kalu added.
The AG said they took immediate legal action to prevent the unlawful broadcast of images, pointing to a TRO issued prior to the episode’s release. They also said, “We are aware that the segment aired notwithstanding the court’s order, and we take this matter very seriously. The Department will pursue additional action as necessary.”
Court Documents revealed the Kalamas and producers of the show are now facing four counts for allegedly breaking Iwi Kupuna protection rules.
“If that were our grandparent, would we want them, after they have physically transitioned to po, would we want to share our family in this manner? I don’t think so,” Wong-Kalu added.
HGTV said in a statement, “We take the concerns raised by the community very seriously and are committed to ensuring our programming is respectful and appropriate. We apologize to anyone who found any part of the episode offensive, that was not HGTV’s intention.”
They also confirmed the original episode was removed, and re-edited without the bones included.
Through our communication with the HGTV spokesperson, Hawaii News Now offered the Kalamas a chance to respond directly, but they did not. They did however take to Instagram to address the episode, saying they followed the protocols they knew, and never intended to build there. They stressed their respect for Hawaiian culture and practices.
The investigation remains active.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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