FAA investigates Southwest Airlines' low altitude incident near Tampa airport

The FAA continues to investigate a Southwest Airlines flight that descended to within 150 feet of the surface, approximately four miles from the end of the runway at Tampa International Airport in Florida. This information is based on ADS-B data posted by FlightAware. At that point in the GPS approach, the aircraft should have been at an altitude of 1,600 feet.

There was convective weather in the area, and a previous flight reported severe conditions about seven miles out on the final approach to Runway 10, which is 7,000 feet long. During its approach, the crew of Southwest Flight WN-425 descended from about 8,000 feet to near ground level in roughly seven minutes at a steady rate of approximately 1,000 feet per minute.

The tower controller issued a low altitude alert and the crew responded promptly. About 50 seconds later, the tower inquired if the flight was going around. The crew confirmed they were.