Southwest flight drops to 150 feet over Florida water in third low-altitude incident

July 22 (UPI) -- Another Southwest Airlines flight is under investigation for flying at dangerously low altitudes, this time on approach to Tampa, Fla., dropping to within 150 feet of the water off the coast before increasing thrust, regaining altitude and diverting to Fort Lauderdale, according to flight tracking data.

This is the third incident in the past four months for Southwest, as the Federal Aviation Administration launches an investigation into last week's incident aboard the Boeing 737 MAX 8, which was traveling from Columbus, Ohio.

"Southwest Flight 425 safely diverted to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on July 14 after the crew discontinued their planned approach into Tampa International Airport. The aircraft returned to Tampa after a short time on the ground in Fort Lauderdale," Southwest said in a statement.

"Southwest is following its robust Safety Management System and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and address any irregularities," Southwest's statement continued. "Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees."

According to flight tracking data from Flightradar24 , the Southwest plane should have been closer to 1,200 feet altitude within 5 miles of the approach. An air traffic controller had to alert the pilot about the plane's 150-foot altitude, which came during poor weather and thunderstorms, before corrective action was taken.

"Southwest 425 loss alert, check your altitude Tampa's now altimeter 3014," the air traffic controller radioed the pilot , before the plane quickly climbed to regain altitude.

In another incident last month, a Southwest Airlines jet descended dangerously low on approach to Oklahoma City, where an air traffic controller at the Will Rogers World Airport radioed the pilot to warn about the unsafe altitude.

According to FlightRadar24, the plane dropped to approximately 525 feet before regaining altitude, circling and eventually landing safely.

In April, a Southwest flight to Hawaii plunged 4,000 feet per minute to just 400 feet above the ocean off the coast of Kauai, after alarms warned the aircraft was too close to the water.

The pilot increased engine thrust to force the plane to climb quickly at a rate of 8,500 feet per minute. Southwest said a relatively inexperienced first officer was flying the plane and had accidentally pushed a control forward before correcting the problem.