A Southwest Airlines Boeing had a nail-biting, almost catastrophic mid-air incident last month, as revealed in a fresh FAA report.
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Federal officials announced on Thursday that they are investigating an unusual rolling motion detected on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8. The issue may have been caused by a damaged backup power-control unit.
CBS News reports that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is collaborating with Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate an incident on a May 25 flight from Phoenix to Oakland. Southwest Airlines has stated that it is also working closely with the FAA and Boeing on the matter.
The FAA reported that the plane experienced a “Dutch roll,” a term describing the simultaneous yawing motion of the tail sliding and the aircraft rocking from wingtip to wingtip. This movement is reminiscent of a Dutch ice skater’s glide.
According to an update from the NTSB on Friday, the incident occurred when the jetliner was cruising at approximately 34,000 feet. Fortunately, pilots are trained to handle such situations, and the plane safely touched down in Oakland about an hour later.
None of the 175 passengers or six crew members sustained any injuries.
Southwest Airlines Boeing Was Grounded for Further Repairs
NTSB investigators have retrieved data from the flight’s Cockpit Data Recorder; however, the Cockpit Voice Recorder, which only stores two hours of audio, was overwritten. The NTSB reported that they were not notified until June 7, nearly two weeks after the incident.
A preliminary FAA report revealed that post-landing inspection identified damage to a unit supplying backup power to the rudder. The FAA noted that other airlines have not reported similar issues. Meanwhile, Southwest confirmed that no other Max jets in its fleet have experienced the same problem.
A temporary repair was reportedly carried out in Oakland. Then the aircraft was transported to Boeing’s plant in Everett, Washington for further repairs.
Meanwhile, a video recently captured flames shooting from a Paris-bound 777 departing Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. A spokesperson for the airport confirmed that the plane landed safely and was then greeted by the fire department.
“After the aircraft landed, it was inspected by airport response vehicles as per normal operating processes. It taxied to the gate on its own,” the airline told CTV News. “The aircraft will be taken out of service for further evaluation by our maintenance and engineering professionals.”