Flightlines 1: A Series of Southwest Incidents
Recent events challenge Southwest and Boeing's reputations
The past few months have been a rough ride for Southwest Airlines and their aircraft manufacturer, Boeing. A series of operator errors and equipment malfunctions has shaken confidence in the industry as a whole, but especially in Boeing’s ability to deliver safely inspected aircraft, and in Southwest’s operations from the flight deck.
Southwest 4069
During a routine evening flight on June 19th, from Las Vegas to Oklahoma City, Southwest 4069 descended to about 500 feet above a residential area in Yukon, Oklahoma. This incident occurred nine miles from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, the intended airport, during a missed approach. The descent, while alarming, was a purposeful but mistaken maneuver. The officer in command reportedly became confused after visually identifying another local airport. The minimum safe altitude warning for the flight was triggered and ATC contacted the flight to make sure everything was alright.
Southwest 4069, low altitude alert. You good out there?
The pilot’s response was inaudible, but the flight regained altitude and landed safely. The FAA is investigating, with Southwest’s cooperation.
Southwest 2786
A month prior, Southwest flight 2786 from Honolulu to Lihue descended to within 400 feet of the Pacific ocean, following a missed approach during area thunderstorms. In this case, the aircraft was being flown by the first officer who was making his first approach into Lihue. The storms had reduced visibility and the officer was not able to identify the runway once approach minimums had been reached. The flight declared a missed approach and go around and proceeded to their holding pattern over the Pacific.
At this point, the series of events that led to the descent are unclear, but a leaked internal memo obtained by Bloomberg indicates that the first officer reached holding altitude and reduced throttle while simultaneously and erroneously pushing into the yoke, causing the aircraft to pitch down. Once the aircraft reached an altitude of several hundred feet, the error was identified and the aircraft was quickly pitched, transitioning from a 1000 fpm descent to ascending at almost 5000 fpm in less than 30 seconds.
Southwest 746
These similar incidents bookend a reported “dutch roll” experienced by a Southwest 737 MAX 8 on May 25th en route from Phoenix to Oakland. While the FAA is still investigating the flight data, the tail section of the aircraft saw significant damage that forced the airliner to return to Boeing on June 6th according to FlightAware tracking logs.
A dutch roll is uncommon for commercial airliners with modern aerodynamics that are equipped with yaw dampers. General opinion is that a dutch roll would essentially correct itself on an aircraft like the MAX 8, with little to no input from the pilot, which makes the case of flight 746 especially curious.
Routes of Interest
Miami to Palma Majorca - July 15th, 2024 - $225
New York (JFK) to São Paolo - August 27th - $389
Raleigh to Istanbul (IST) - July 9th, 2024 - $328
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Cover photo credit: @forsakenfilmslimited