Southwest under investigation after Hawaii flight quickly drops within 400 feet of ocean

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The FAA is investigating a Southwest aircraft bound for Lihue suddenly dove 4,000 feet in a minute just 400 feet above the ocean.

Bloomberg News reported the incident first and said the plane came within 400 feet of falling into the ocean.

On April 11, the aircraft headed for Lihue ended up flying back to the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

Retired Pilot Patrick McNamee analyzed the flight map on Flight Aware and said weather conditions made it difficult for the plane to land safely on Kauai.

“So, they could only descend to 400 feet off the water in order to take a look to see if they can get in. In this case, they descended 400 feet, they could not find, or they couldn’t see through the clouds to land,” said McNamee. “So, they went around, and I think that scared the passengers.”

A Southwest memo to pilots said a less-experienced first officer inadvertently pushed the control column forward, then cut the speed, causing cockpit alarms to go off before the captain ordered an aggressive climb.

“I don’t believe that anything was unsafe in this. It might have been a little aggressive, but when you do go around in an airplane, you use full throttle, and it’s like taking off again,” said McNamee. “So here you are coming, coming in for a landing, descending, and when you can’t see the runway, you have to go around; when you have that power, it’s a very, very aggressive feeling.”

“It pushes you back in your seat, the nose goes up, and it climbs away from the ground,” McNamee said. He can see how that could have contributed to the scare factor.

However, there have been other incidents that have made people hesitant to fly.

In 2022, eleven people were seriously injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu following severe turbulence.

“After hearing about that one, I’ve been more conscious of making sure I have my seatbelt even when I’m just sleeping on the plane,” said Brenna Cregge of Mililani.

In a separate flight, a United Airlines flight made a steep dive after taking off from Maui’s airport.

Southwest released the following statement.

Nothing is more important to Southwest than Safety. Through our robust Safety Management System, the event was addressed appropriately, as we always strive for continuous improvement.

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