The American federal aviation body FAA is investigating a mysterious near-miss accident at La Guardia airport in New York where an airplane, specifically a Boeing 737-800 of the American company Southwest Airlines with 153 people on board risked hitting the tower control while he was in the landing phase.
The aircraft ended up outside the trajectory established for the correct landing maneuver for several minutes, thus putting the safety of the landing operation at risk.
This is a completely anomalous “accident” which pushed the FAA to open a truly in-depth investigation to understand the causes that led the vehicle to fly following incorrect parameters unrelated to the navigation manuals.
The incident happened last March 23rd. The Southwest flight took off from Nashville for New York's La Guardia airport.
It should be noted that the weather conditions that day were not at all favourable. It was raining heavily and the wind was traveling at 10 knots: visibility was just a mile, so much so that another flight even had to interrupt landing operations, as happened to the Southwest plane which headed towards an airport alternative.
After the initial landing phases took place correctly, suddenly the Boeing 737-800 began to deviate from its course by 376 meters to the right compared to the correct path. From the control tower the technicians order the pilots to return the plane to the right trajectory. The vehicle passes at a minimum vertical distance of 170 meters, horizontal distance of 95 meters and at a speed of 230 kilometers per hour. «Keep climbing, Southwest 147, they say from the tower – And when you can explain why you were not on the expected path» for the descent. «We are trying to resolve a few things. We are climbing in altitude”, is the response of the commander on board.
After a few minutes, the second officer contacts the tower and asks to be able to head towards another airport «This is Southwest 147, we would like to divert to Philadelphia or the alternative Pittsburgh.
The plane then landed at Baltimore-Washington Airport. One hypothesis is that the change in wind could have moved it from its flight path, making it impossible to land correctly.
“An air traffic controller instructed the crew of Southwest Airlines Flight 147, which had diverted due to adverse weather conditions, to perform a go-around at LaGuardia Airport,” FAA explains in a statement, confirming the investigation .
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