Southwest Airlines Boeing flight experienced ‘Dutch roll’ midair

US News

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by Ronnie Reyes

A Southwest Airlines Boeing plane experienced an unusual Dutch roll at an altitude of 32,000 feet, causing severe damage to the aircraft and rendering it unfit for flight, authorities said.

On May 25, Southwest Airlines Flight N8825Q (a Boeing 737 carrying 175 passengers) was en route from Phoenix to Oakland when the tail of the plane began to sway and the wings of the aircraft began to rock back and forth.

The FAA said the plane sustained significant damage during the phenomenon, known as a Dutch roll, but the pilot was able to regain control and land safely in Oakland.

No injuries have been reported from Dutch roll accidents, but pilots are trained to deal with it and modern planes are built with yaw dampers to counter it.

“The FAA is working closely with the NTSB and Boeing to investigate this accident,” the agency said in a statement.

“We will take appropriate action based on the findings of our investigation.”

A preliminary FAA report found that a power control device that provides backup power to the plane’s rudder was damaged.

Boeing and Southwest Airlines declined to comment on the incident, but added that Southwest was cooperating with the FAA’s investigation.

The incident is just the latest involving Boeing planes that have come under intense scrutiny over safety concerns.

The aerospace giant has faced a lot of criticism in recent years over a series of technological failures around the world, with at least 20 whistleblowers accusing the company.

A scathing report released by the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in September concluded that the two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 were the “horrific culmination” of “repeated and severe failures” by the company and regulators.

Then in January 2024, a door panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-9 during a flight from Oregon to California, rekindling concerns about the plane’s safety.