Federal aviation officials are investigating after a Southwest Airlines plane flew low over Oklahoma early Wednesday, triggering an altitude warning from air traffic control.
The Federal Aviation Administration told USA Today that after an automatic alarm sounded, air traffic controllers warned the pilot of Flight 4069 that the plane had descended to a low altitude nine miles from Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport.
According to the FAA’s website, the automated system is the Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW), which alerts air traffic controllers if an aircraft is flying too low.
“Southwest 4069, low altitude warning. Are you OK?” an air traffic controller asked just after midnight Wednesday, according to an audio archive of the communication provided by LiveATC.net.
Hawaii FAA Survey:Federal authorities are investigating the crash of a Southwest Airlines plane within 400 feet of the ocean.
The plane appears to have descended to about 500 feet above the high school.
The Boeing 737-800 plane, which departed from Las Vegas, had been cleared to land on a visual approach from the northwest, according to The Oklahoman, a USA Today Network newspaper.
Transponder data showed the plane descended to an altitude of about 500 feet as it passed over a high school in Yukon, a city in Canadian County about 18 miles northwest of downtown Oklahoma City.
Second Southwest Airlines flight recently under investigation by FAA
The accident is the second altitude-related accident involving Southwest Airlines in just over two months that is under investigation by the FAA.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Monday that Southwest Airlines Flight 2786 crashed 400 feet above the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii Island on April 11.
A memo distributed by Southwest to pilots and obtained by Bloomberg, which first reported the news last week, said the plane briefly descended at an “unusual speed of more than 4,000 feet per minute” before the pilots climbed to avoid crashing into the water.
The report said the pilots performed a “roller coaster maneuver” to avoid crashing into the ocean.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
