Southwest flight into Tampa has ‘close call’ 150 feet above Courtney Campbell Causeway: ‘It’s hard to believe’

TAMPA, Fla. – The FAA is looking into a scary incident with a Southwest Airlines plane trying to land at Tampa International Airport this month.

On July 14, Flight 425 had a dangerously low descent too far from the runway and was suddenly diverted to Fort Lauderdale. The cause of the issue is not yet known.

In audio obtained between the pilot and air traffic control that day, the pilot is told “Southwest 425, low altitude alert, check your altitude…”

During the descent, the plane got within 150 feet of the Courtney Campbell Causeway. Still four miles away from the actual runway, experienced pilots say the plane should have been at least 1,000 feet higher, and even a bad gust of wind could have sent the plane into the ground.

“How they got to 150 feet with the number of warnings that are available on an aircraft… it’s really– it’s hard to believe,” said Kent Davis, a retired pilot of more than 30 years. He believes it was pilot error.

“It comes down to the pilots. On any approach, especially in bad weather, which they were encountering at the time, it’s imperative that they work together as a crew,” said Davis. “They either started their descent at the wrong point and descended thinking that they were on the proper descent rate to the runway, or something may have malfunctioned.”

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This is the third incident Southwest has had with dangerously low descents recently. There was one in Oklahoma in June and another into New York’s LaGuardia in April. Both flights had to be diverted to other airports, as well.

Southwest issued a statement on the Tampa descent, saying in part:

“Southwest is following its robust safety management system and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and address any irregularities. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”

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The FAA is investigating the incident.

“There’s a problem. Now is that problem a software problem or is that problem a crew training problem? Is it an experience problem? That’s all what they’re going to be looking at and they’ve got to do it quickly because if you’ve got three [incidents] with the same airline… you’ve got to address this quickly before you have a fourth, which could be catastrophic,” said Davis.

As with most FAA investigations, there will be an initial finding in a few months and a more detailed report in a few years.

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