FAA is investigating the Southwest flight that fell within a few hundred feet of the ocean in Hawaii

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a Southwest Airlines passenger flight that crashed within a few hundred feet of the ocean off the coast of Hawaii in April.

Weather conditions on the island of Kauai prompted pilots of Southwest Flight 2786 on April 11 to bypass a landing attempt at Lihue Airport prior to the rapid descent toward the ocean, according to air traffic control audio from liveatc.net , reviewed by CBS News. The flight eventually returned to Honolulu, where it landed safely.

Bloomberg News was the first to report the incident. Citing a memo Southwest distributed to pilots last week, it reported that the plane came within 400 feet of falling into the ocean. Bloomberg News said the Boeing Co. 737 Max 8 aircraft briefly descended more than 4,000 feet per minute before the flight crew pulled it up to avoid disaster. There were no injuries during the flight.

In a statement to CBS News, Southwest Airlines said the “event was handled appropriately.”

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than safety. Through our robust safety management system, the event was handled appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement,” Southwest Airlines said Friday.

Federal officials said Thursday they investigated an unusual rolling motion on another Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 that may have been caused by a damaged backup power control unit.

The FAA said it was working with Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the incident on a May 25 flight from Phoenix to Oakland. Southwest says it is working with the FAA and Boeing.

The FAA said the plane went into a “Dutch roll,” the name given to the combination of a screeching motion as the tail slides and the plane rocks from wingtip to wingtip — a motion said to resemble the motion of a Dutch ice skater imitates.

Updated information from the NTSB said Friday that it happened when the jet was at about 34,000 feet.

Pilots were trained to recover from the condition and the plane landed safely in Oakland about an hour later.