An investigation is underway in the United States after a passenger jet plunged towards the ocean off the coast of a Hawaiian island.
The incident occurred on April 11 aboard Southwest Airlines Flight 2786, but only came to light publicly last Friday after Bloomberg reported the airline sent a memo to pilots about the incident.
Bloomberg reported the memo indicated a “newer” first officer was flying at the time and inadvertently pushed forward on the control column.
Flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange shows the plane dropping at a rate of more than 4000 feet per minute while only 600 feet above sea level.
The Boeing 737 Max 8 flew as low as 400 feet before rapidly climbing.
“Nothing is more important to Southwest than safety,” the airline said.
“Through our robust Safety Management System, the event was addressed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.”
In a brief statement, Southwest acknowledged the incident but did not address the memo or why the incident took place.
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The US Federal Aviation Administration said it learned of the incident immediately and opened an investigation.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association has not commented.
The flight was an inter-island hop from the main Honolulu airport to Lihue airport on the neighbouring island of Kauai.
The internal memo said the pilots decided to abort a landing there in bad weather, according to Bloomberg.
Tracking data shows the plane then returned to Honolulu.
In December 2022, a United Airlines flight departing a different Hawaiian airport also dove toward the ocean in bad weather, coming 748 feet from disaster, according to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The NTSB concluded the pilots miscommunicated about the settings of the plane’s flaps. The NTSB has not yet said whether it will investigate this latest incident.
