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Another Southwest Airlines-operated Boeing plane was involved in a serious mid-air incident. Sky News reports that a 737 Max 8 being flown by the carrier came within 400 feet of running into the Pacific Ocean during a flight in Hawai’i.
The jetliner was traveling between Honolulu and Kaua’i in inclement weather. It had to abandon its initial landing, and during the run-up to another attempt, one of the co-pilots reportedly hit the wrong flight control and sent the plane within 400 feet of landing in the water. The pilots did manage to land without anyone getting hurt. The incident happened in April.
Public reports of the incident come the week after a different Southwest-operated 737 Max 8 made headlines for experiencing a so-called “Dutch roll,” in which the plane spins and tilts at the same time. That happened in May. Back in 2019, the 737 Max 8 was grounded for 20 months after a pair of fatal crashes, though it did eventually get the green light to fly again.
Southwest Airlines declined to comment specifically on the flight, the details of which had been discussed in an internal memo that was reported on by Reuters. However, the airline told Quartz that “nothing is more important to Southwest than Safety,” and that “through our robust Safety Management System, the event was addressed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.” The FAA said in a comment to Quartz that it is investigating what happened. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.