FAA investigates after dive report

Lina Portman3 weeks ago

0 1 minute read

An investigation is underway after a Southwest Airlines flight plunged 400 feet above the Pacific Ocean near a Hawaiian island this spring, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Monday.

The frightening incident took place the morning of April 11 on Southwest Flight 2786, according to tracking data obtained by USA TODAY.

The plane briefly fell at “an unusually high speed of more than 4,000 feet per minute” before the pilots righted themselves to avoid crashing into the water, according to a Southwest memo distributed to pilots and obtained by Bloomberg, which first reported the news on Friday.

The flight crew performed a “roller coaster maneuver,” the outlet reported, to avoid hitting the ocean.

“We are investigating this incident,” the FAA said in a statement to USA TODAY.

The FAA did not release additional details.

Southwest Flight 2786

According to the online site Flight Aware, which tracks flight paths, the southwest flight, an interisland hop, took off from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport at 6:45 p.m. bound for Lihue Airport, just northwest of Honolulu.

Shortly after takeoff, according to tracking data, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 turned around and returned to the same airport, landing at 8:27 p.m.

According to Southwest's internal memo sent to pilots last week, the pilots decided to abort the landing due to “bad weather,” Bloomberg reported.

The memo said a “newer” co-pilot was flying at the time and inadvertently pushed the stick forward, the outlet wrote.

No injuries were reported.

Emergency landing of a flight to Illinois: 8-year-old girl dies following medical emergency on SkyWest Airlines flight to Chicago

South-West: “The event has been discussed”

Southwest acknowledged the incident to USA TODAY but would not provide additional details about the “internal memo” issue.

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than safety,” the airline said in a statement Monday morning. “Thanks to our strong safety management system, the event was managed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.”

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.

Southwest Flight 2786

South-West: “The event has been discussed”

Lina Portman

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