Pending disaster: Near-miss flight scare over Old Tampa Bay

— I thought I had to tell my husband how I'm going to die — recounted one of the passengers of the flight from Columbus, Ohio, to Tampa, Florida. Along with other people on the Southwest Airlines plane, which was less than 50 metres above the ground at one point.

In the United States, air travel is commonplace. One of the popular routes starts in Columbus, Ohio, and ends in Tampa, Florida, which is about 1,600 kilometres away.

This route is free of more challenging sections and is well-known to American pilots. Therefore, nothing indicated that on the route – during the Sunday flight on 14 July – passengers would experience a real nightmare, which played out over Old Tampa Bay.

As reported by the "Tampa Bay Times", during the mentioned flight, the plane, while over water, slowly lowered its altitude to 45 metres. At that time, as experts note, even a gust of wind could have caused a serious disaster. Passengers, who also noticed suddenly being so close to Old Tampa Bay, panicked.

We descended very low, and then suddenly we just lifted, and they didn't say anything at first [...] Everyone was looking at each other — said one of the passengers of the flight from Ohio to Florida in an interview with the "Tampa Bay Times".

Another passenger mentioned on Fox News that she was already thinking about the worst. — I thought I had to tell my husband how I was going to die. I started recording a video — she said. Experts are still investigating the matter, but - according to initial findings - the key factor in this situation was human error.

Ultimately, it all comes down to one weak link in the chain, which is the human factor [...] I begin to suspect that this crew did not have enough rest – assessed certified flight instructor Robert Katz in the "Tampa Bay Times".