A Boeing 737 aircraft flew so low over an Oklahoma neighbourhood that it triggered an altitude alert and startled residents below, according to reports.

Southwest Airlines Flight 4069 from Las Vegas was reportedly nine miles away from Will Rogers World Airport just after midnight on Wednesday, when records show it dropped to between 400 and 500 feet off the ground as it flew over a high school.

Doorbell camera footage showed the plane, a Boeing 737 MAX-8, flying low over houses before disappearing out of frame.

The drop in altitude prompted air traffic control contact the pilot and check the flight’s status, publicly available audio archive of the transmission revealed.

“Southwest 4069, low altitude alert,” the flight controller heard saying, adding: “You good out there?”

The pilot then confirmed there was no issue with the plane, and circled back around. They then quickly regained altitude from around 450 feet to over 1,000 as it flew over Yukon High School.

The plane then touched down safely at a different runway. Air Traffic Control staff confirmed the alert and missed approach but said there were no issues with the aircraft, The Oklahoman reports.

However, the low altitude of the approach, coupled with the late hour it took place, proved unsettling for the locals below.

One resident reported being awakened by the sound of the plane and said they feared it might crash. “It woke me up and I thought it was gonna hit my house,” they wrote on Yukon Happenings Facebook page, as per the outlet.

Another told KFOR, “I was kind of like halfway in between sleep, being awake, and I just hear that WHOOSH. And I thought at first, like a storm was blowing in… because it just sounded like a wall of wind.

He said he then looked out the window “where the sound was coming from… if you go a few blocks away is the high school. And I just see a plane, he said, adding: “I knew it wasn’t normal.”

SouthWest said in a statement that it is “following its robust Safety Management System and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and address any irregularities with the aircraft’s approach to the airport.

“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,” it added.