The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation into a low-flying Southwest Airlines flight near Oklahoma City, after it was detected to have descended into a dangerously low altitude only nine miles (14.5 km) from Will Rogers World Airport.
The incident occurred on Wednesday, after Southwest Airlines Flight 4069 departed Las Vegas, the FAA announced. The air traffic controller immediately warned the flight crew when the Minimum Safe Altitude Warning sounded.
"After an automated warning sounded, an air traffic controller alerted the crew of Southwest Airlines Flight 4069 that the aircraft had descended to a low altitude nine miles away from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City," the FAA said in a statement.
The airline said that it is communicating with the FAA to be able to understand, as well as address, whatever irregularities there might have been at the time that the aircraft was approaching the airport. The airline also underscored that it is following a Safety Management System.
However, the incident in Oklahoma was not a first in a series of close-calls haunting the airline in recent months. These incidents have raised a concerns about the public's safety, Reuters noted.
Mike Whitaker, the FAA administrator, did not give a comment on whether the series of incidents would pave the way for the agency to increase scrutiny of Southwest Airline, as it did previously with United Airlines. However, he said that the agency reviewed all incidents concerning the airline and that it was also closely monitoring other carriers.
"The airline oversight model is a pretty good model that we want to build out for other players in the system," he said.
A week before the Oklahoma incident, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA said that they were investigating an incident concerning a Southwest flight of a Boeing 737 MAX on May 25. According to the NTSB, the plane experienced a "Dutch roll" at 34,000 feet. The incident happened while the flight was en route from Phoenix to Oakland.
Aside from the Phoenix incident, the FAA was also investigating another incident that occurred in April aboard Southwest 737 MAX 8, which came within approximately 400 feet of the ocean off the coast of Hawaii. Pilots bypassed a landing attempt at the Lihue airport on Kauai Island due to bad weather.
