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A Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft of the company low-cost American Southwest Airlines almost fell into the Pacific Ocean, near the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, after weather conditions forced the pilots to change course. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began investigations to determine what specifically happened in the April 11 incident.
The aircraft – which was going from the International Airport of Honolulu bound for Lihue Airport, in Kauai– He fell more than 1200 meters in a few secondsuntil reaching almost 122 meters above the water and then managing to stabilize again.
According to a memo distributed within the company, the flight consisted only of a “hop” between islands, in which The pilots decided to abort a landing due to bad weather and divert again to Honolulu. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association had no comment.
The FAA report said “substantial” damage was discovered to a unit that controls backup power to the plane’s rudder. “Following the event, SWA performed maintenance on the aircraft and discovered damage to structural components,” the report said.
“Nothing is more important to Southwest than safety,” the airline said in a statement provided to media. He added: “Through our robust Safety Management System, the event was addressed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.”
This incident occurred shortly after another plane from the same company suffered “significant damage” after performing what is known as a Dutch turnwhich occurs when the tail of the plane slides from side to side and the plane moves in a way that causes the wings to push up and down.
The incident occurred during a flight Phoenix to Oakland in May this year, according to the site Bloomberg. He plane was sailing at 10,000 meters from Arizona to California, and, after the problems, managed to land safely without any injuries. However, the company did not notify the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) about the plane’s damage until June 7. An FAA report said “substantial” damage was discovered to a unit that controls backup power to the plane’s rudder, but It is still unclear what triggered the incident..
Last year, Southwest agreed to pay a record $140 million civil penalty after a Christmas crisis in December 2022 left 2 million passengers stranded at airports across the United States. The airline canceled 8000 flights in a period of four days, after a winter storm.
The US Department of Transportation found that Southwest violated consumer protection laws by failing to provide adequate customer service assistance “through its call center to hundreds of thousands of customers,” as well as by failing to provide immediate notifications about the status of flights to more than a million passengers and quick refunds to thousands.
AP Agency
THE NATION
