Passenger recounts Southwest descent 150 feet above Courtney Campbell Causeway: 'I'm going to die'
Video from inside Southwest plane that flew too low
A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight that flew as low as 150 feet over the Courtney Campbell Causeway is sharing cell phone video from inside the plane. The plane was supposed to land at Tampa International Airport, but ended up diverting to Fort Lauderdale.
TAMPA, Fla. - FOX 13 is getting a first look from inside the Southwest Airlines plane that descended too low, just 150 feet above the Courtney Campbell Causeway, on July 14.
Flight 425 was coming into Tampa International Airport for a landing, but got too close to the ground four miles away from the runway. That far from the runway, the plane should have been more than 1,600 feet above the ground.
A passenger saw the descent from her window seat and said she thought she might die as they were dipping down so close to the water.
"I think the thing that I first saw that really concerned me was how close to the water we were. I didn't know at the time that we were flying necessarily east, but I knew that Tampa Bay was way too close to us, and that was my big red flag," said Nancy Allen. "I literally was thinking, I need to let my husband know how I'm going to die today. So I started videotaping just to try to understand what was happening."
She says the pilot stayed calm, but did not explain to passengers what had happened.
"When the pilot came on he said something along the lines in a very calm manner of 'there were some gusty winds that are preventing us from landing. That happens sometimes and we're out of gas. So we're going to go to Fort Lauderdale and gas up,'" said Allen.
The FAA is investigating the incident, along with two similar dangerous descents by Southwest this year.
To understand just how low this jet was, FOX 13's Evyn Moon sat inside the cockpit of a 737 plane simulator at the SimCenter and flew the same path the pilots did, right above the Tampa Bay bridge. The flight simulator mimics audible warnings pilots should have heard on their way down.
"When you’re landing, the aircraft calls out ‘1,000, 500, 400, 300, 200…’ so you know what your altitude is," Peter Repak from SimCenter Tampa Bay explained during the simulation. "Now having said that, inclement weather can throw you off, things can happen, a million things can happen, but being 150 feet above Courtney Campbell bridge… that’s a little off by all imagination."
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