A Southwest Airlines passenger feared she was on a one-way ticket to the afterlife when her flight neared Old Tampa Bay waters.
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On July 14, Nancy Allen was on Southwest Flight 425, traveling from Columbus, Ohio, to Tampa, Florida, when the plane unexpectedly descended below 200 feet over the water near the Courtney Campbell Causeway.
"I think the thing that I first saw that really concerned me was how close to the water we were," Allen recalled to Tampa's WTVT. "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."
At its lowest altitude, the Boeing 737 Max 8 descended to just 150 feet above the water, still 4 miles away from its destination. In contrast, flights in the region usually operate at an altitude of approximately 1,225 feet.
The terrified passenger, seated by the window on a harrowing flight, grabbed her camera to document what she feared might be her impending demise. "We were just low to the water, then high, then low, oh my God," Allen is heard exclaiming in the footage.
The Terrified Southwest Passenger Sends Her Husband Farewell Texts
In that tense moment, Allen sent a message to her husband, sharing the harrowing details of the traumatic flight. "Attempting to land. This is sketchy," she wrote. "Abort. Abort." "Soooooo sketchy," Allen added.
"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 later explained.
Allen wasn't alone in his concern about the low-flying plane; air traffic controllers had also warned the pilots about the potential danger.
"Southwest 425 low altitude alert, check your altitude," tower officials told the pilots, per WTVT.
The jet soared past Tampa International Airport as inclement weather moved into the area, ultimately landing 200 miles away in Fort Lauderdale. Despite the dramatic water-skimming flyby, Allen noted that the flight deck appeared largely unfazed by the situation.
"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,'" Allen recalled.
The FAA has announced an investigation into a recent low-altitude incident, along with two other similar occurrences involving Southwest flights earlier this year.
