US plane crashes 400 feet into Pacific Ocean, passengers narrowly escape death
Passengers traveling on a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft from Honolulu International Airport to Lihue Airport on Kauai had their hearts skipped a beat when the plane descended from an altitude of 16,000 feet to 409 feet.
A Southwest Airlines plane came 400 feet from crashing into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii after adverse weather forced the pilots to alter their course because they were unable to see the runway.
Passengers traveling on a Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft from Honolulu International Airport to Lihue Airport on Kauai had their hearts skipped a beat when the plane descended from an altitude of 16,000 feet to 409 feet.
The incident occurred on April 11, when bad weather caused the pilots to abort a landing attempt because they couldn’t see the runway, according to a memo sent to Southwest Airlines pilots obtained by Bloomberg.
The first officer, who is less experienced, “inadvertently” pushed the control column, which controls the plane’s tilt and roll, forward and then reduced speed, causing the plane to lose altitude and descend rapidly.
According to the memo, the captain chose to hand over command of the 100-mile flight to the first officer despite the adverse weather. The captain ordered the first officer to increase thrust, resulting in the plane “rapidly climbing” at a speed of 8,500 feet per minute.
Meanwhile, an alarm sounded on the warning system, indicating that the plane had come too close to the ground due to the pilot’s aggressive behavior.
The flight, which was scheduled to take about 22 minutes, departed Honolulu at 6:45 pm (local time) and returned to the Hawaiian capital at 8:09 pm after the incident. No one was injured during the entire trip.
A Southwest Airlines spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement that the issue is “being addressed appropriately.”
The spokesperson said, “Nothing is more important to Southwest than safety. Through our robust safety management system, this incident was appropriately addressed as we always strive for continuous improvement.”
The Federal Aviation Administration, the US civil aviation agency, told Fox News Digital that it was “investigating the incident.”
The incident follows a similar incident involving a United Airlines flight near Maui on December 18, 2022. The plane, a Boeing 777-200, fell from 2,200 feet to 775 feet above sea level for about 20 seconds after taking off from Maui.
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