Southwest Airlines Flight Nearly Disaster: Pilot Error and Adverse Weather Conditions

In April, a Southwest Airlines flight came close to disaster near Hawaii. A pilot accidentally sent the aircraft into a dive, nearly causing it to crash into the ocean. The incident was reported by Bloomberg and detailed in an internal memo sent to pilots last week. Despite adverse weather conditions, the captain chose to let a less-experienced first officer control the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane during the flight.

When the plane had to abort its landing at Lihue Airport due to bad weather, the first officer pushed the steering yoke forward unintentionally without reducing speed. This caused the plane to plummet rapidly from an altitude of 1,000 feet to only 400 feet above the ocean within seconds. Alarms in the cockpit alerted the captain, who instructed the first officer to accelerate, leading to an abrupt climb at a rate of 8,500 feet per minute.

The intense situation was reminiscent of another flight near Hawaii in 2022 that experienced a sudden descent due to miscommunication between pilots. United Airlines Flight 1722 had to make a quick recovery after a first officer misunderstood instructions about setting the flaps of the aircraft. Despite these incidents, Southwest Airlines emphasized that safety is their top priority and that they promptly addressed them through their Safety Management System. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported on this latest flight and it returned safely back to Honolulu.