TAMPA, Fla. — A Southwest Airlines flight destined for Tampa International Airport was diverted after the plane descended as low as 300 feet above Old Tampa Bay during bad weather, flight data showed.
The flight departed Ohio around 4 p.m. on July 14 and made several detours because of bad weather. As it made its approach to the Tampa airport, it descended as low as 300 feet while above the Courtney Campbell Causeway, according to FlightAware. The causeway is 45 feet above the water at its highest point, according to construction company Ayres.
The travel site One Mile at a Time reported that the plane descended as low as 150 feet, citing ADS-B data, which is surveillance technology that serves as an interface between the plane and Air Traffic Control.
Air Traffic Control officials tell the pilots that they are at low altitude, according to recordings from the YouTube channel You can see ATC.
"Southwest 425, low altitude alert, check your altitude. Tampa's alimeter is 30.14," a person with Air Traffic Control said.
After the warning, the plane starts to ascend, goes around the runway, but ultimately ends up diverting to Fort Lauderdale where the weather was more favorable. The plane landed at 7:45 p.m. according to FlightAware.
10 Tampa Bay Aviation Expert Mark Weinkrantz reviewed the flight path details and explained what it might have felt like for passengers.
"It wasn't like the bottom dropped out. But it would have been a steep angle to get down in the first place, and it would have been noisier," he said.
Weinkrantz explained, "One of the things that concerns me about this incident is how late the recognition actually came before the pilots realized they were not where they were supposed to be."
Weinkrantz, a pilot of 35 years who has flown into TPA countless times, said it appears the pilots were trying to beat in bad weather and would have been preoccupied reprogramming the plane for a runway that requires a quicker approach.
"Based on the weather and what we can see from the radar picture, it looks like they were flying the best they could to get to the airport before the storm arrived at the airport," Weinkrantz added.
Moreover, he speculates that they got turned around in the storm and mistook the Courtney Campbell Causeway for a runway.
"When there's bad weather, when you see lights, you might see what you want to see instead of what is actually there," he said.
A spokesperson for Southwest said the plane returned to Tampa after a short time on the ground in South Florida.
"Southwest is following its robust Safety Management System and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and address any irregularities," a statement from the airline read.
Another plane that landed at the Tampa airport just before, told Air Traffic Control that there was moderate rain, according to the recording on YouTube.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the incident.
10 Tampa Bay's Hannah Dineen contributed to this report.