FAA Investigating After Southwest Flight Drops to 500 Feet Over Neighborhood

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is looking into an incident involving a Southwest Airlines flight that dropped to 500 feet above a neighborhood in Oklahoma after a missed approach.

The Oklahoman reported shortly after midnight on Wednesday, the Southwest Boeing 737-800 had been cleared to land at Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport on a visual approach.

Data showed the aircraft dropped to roughly 500 feet above Yukon High School.

And the incident reportedly promoted on air traffic controller to ask, “Southwest 4069, low altitude alert. You good out there?”

“The aircraft quickly regained altitude and circled for a safe landing at another runway. When reached Thursday, ATC personnel at the airport confirmed the alert and missed approach but said there were no issues with the aircraft,” the Oklahoman noted.

In a statement, a Southwest spokesperson said, “Southwest is following its robust Safety Management System and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration 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 incident comes days after the FAA confirmed it is investigating another incident involving a Southwest plane, which dropped to roughly 400 feet above the Pacific Ocean in April.

According to a memo, obtained by Bloomberg, that flight dropped at “an abnormally high rate of more than 4,000 feet per minute” before pilots pulled up and prevented the flight from crashing into the water.