By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday it is investigating why a Southwest Airlines (NYSE:) Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX rolled during a flight last month.
The NTSB said the plane was en route from Phoenix, Arizona to Oakland, California on May 25, which the crew said was a “Dutch roll” at 34,000 feet. Such lateral asymmetric movements are named after a Dutch skating technique and can have serious consequences. safety risks.
The board said the pilots regained control of the plane, landed it safely and none of the 175 passengers and six crew were injured during the incident. During a subsequent inspection, Southwest found damage to structural components, the NTSB said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which said damage was found in a standby power control unit, said it is also investigating and “working closely with the NTSB and Boeing to investigate this event.”
Boeing declined to comment on the Dutch Roll incident and referred questions to Southwest, which said it was participating in the investigation.
In addition, the FAA confirmed it is investigating an April Southwest 737 MAX 8 passenger flight that came about 400 feet above the ocean off the coast of Hawaii after poor weather conditions caused pilots to bypass a landing attempt at Kauai’s Lihue Airport.
During the go-around, the first officer “inadvertently pushed forward on the control column while following the throttle movement commanded by the autothrottle,” according to a June 7 memo seen by Reuters, and the plane began to descend rapidly, reaching a maximum descent rate of approximately 4,400 feet per minute.
The memo stated that “safety data confirmed the crew received a “DO NOT Sink” verbal warning followed by a “PULL UP” verbal warning, but the first officer later said the clew did not hear the warnings.
The pilots said in a post-debriefing that seeing the severity of the flight “through the animations was a significant, emotional event,” according to the Southwest memo, adding that the crew participated in extensive corrective action and that the airline evaluates data and trends related to her flight. procedures, training, standards and performance.
Southwest said in a statement that “the event was handled appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.” Bloomberg News first reported the flight to Hawaii.
