A Southwest Airlines commercial plane inexplicably dived while landing in Oklahoma City, flying less than 500 feet over a residential neighborhood — setting off altitude alarms and frightening residents.
The dangerously low flight of Southwest Airlines flight 4069 from Las Vegas was recorded by transponders, and caught to notice of air traffic controllers.
Shortly after midnight, the Boeing 737-800 passed by Yukon High School after it was cleared to land at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, the Oklahoman reported.
“Southwest 4069, low altitude alert,” an air traffic controller warned. “You good out there?”
The commercial jet eventually landed safely after it regained altitude and circled around the airport, the newspaper reported.
Officials confirmed that the plane missed the approach when it first tried to land.
The too-close-for-comfort flying left nearby locals rattled.
“Thought I was having cool dreams about airplanes other night but actually had a 737 buzz my house,” one person wrote on Facebook.
“It woke me up and I thought it was gonna hit my house,” another person said in a local Facebook group, according to the Oklahoman.
Southwest said in a statement it was investigating the incident with federal officials.
“Southwest is following its robust Safety Management System and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and address any irregularities with the aircraft’s approach to the airport,” according to a spokesperson.
“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees.”
Wednesday’s startling flying episode comes as the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to USA Today this week it was probing how a Southwest plane dropped to just 400 feet above the Pacific Ocean en route to Hawaii in April.
That plane plunged at “an abnormally high rate of more than 4,000 feet per minute” before pilots were able to tug the plane up, according to a memo from the airline company to pilots and obtained by Bloomberg.