FAA investigation into southwest low-altitude warning at TPA continues

The FAA continues to investigate a Southwest Airlines flight that descended to 150 feet above the Earth’s surface about four miles from the end of the runway at Tampa International Airport in Florida, according to ADS-b data from FlightAware. At that point in the GPS approach, the plane should have been at 1,600 feet. Convective weather was prevalent in the area, and a previous flight reported the worst was about seven miles from final approach to the 7,000-foot Runway 10. During the approach, the crew of Southwest flight WN-425 descended from about 8,000 feet to nearly the Earth’s surface in about seven minutes at a steady rate of about 1,000 feet per minute.

The tower controller issued a low altitude warning (in a calm voice) and the crew responded. About 50 seconds later, the tower asked if the flight was at a cruising altitude. The crew responded that it was.

About 40 minutes later, the Boeing 737 Max landed safely at Fort Lauderdale International Airport. After some time on the ground, the aircraft returned to Tampa International Airport.