Southwest flight descends to 525 feet over city, prompting FAA investigation

• A Southwest Airlines flight descended to just 160 meters above the ground on Wednesday.
• The incident triggered an altitude warning and an FAA investigation.
• In April, a Southwest flight crashed dangerously low off the coast of Hawaii.

A Southwest Airlines flight flew dangerously low over a city in Oklahoma while landing on Wednesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating Southwest Flight 4069 after the plane descended to an altitude of just 525 feet above the ground, the agency said this week.

“After an automatic warning sounded, an air traffic controller informed the crew of Southwest Airlines Flight 4069 that the aircraft had descended to a low altitude nine miles from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City,” the FAA said in a statement.

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The plane was flying over Yukon, Oklahoma, when its altitude triggered an alert, according to air traffic radar data that shows the incident occurred shortly after midnight on Wednesday.

According to CNN, an air traffic controller at the airport issued an altitude warning to the plane’s crew and asked if the pilot was “okay.”

The Boeing 737-800 jet quickly adjusted, briefly climbed again and landed safely at the airport.

A Southwest spokesperson told Business Insider that the airline is following its “robust” safety management system and is in contact with the FAA to “understand and resolve any irregularities in the aircraft’s approach to the airport.”

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,” the spokesman said.

In April, a Southwest flight almost crashed into the sea after a pilot accidentally sent the plane into a nosedive off the coast of Hawaii. A less experienced pilot caused the plane to crash from an altitude of 300 meters to just 120 meters above the Pacific Ocean in a matter of seconds in bad weather, according to a recent Bloomberg report.