AA 777 experienced throttle problems on 2/28

[FWAAA]

This should instill confidence in those twinjet flights (talking to you, NHBBs). B)

This is APA Communications Director Gregg Overman with the APA Information Hotline for Thursday, February 28.

777 SAFETY ALERT:
This afternoon American Airlines Flight 229, a Boeing 777 bound from MIA to LAX, had the left engine hang up on approach to LAX at approximately 2,000 feet. The auto throttles were on and the left engine hung at approach idle as the right engine accelerated normally. It is believed that the left engine would not respond to throttle inputs for 10-15 seconds before finally responding and accelerating to the commanded thrust. The right engine performed normally. Maintenance has downloaded the DFDR data and Maintenance action to be taken (ATBT) will be to sump the fuel tanks, pull the engine fuel filters and check for contamination, BITE check the EEC and check the MAT for any existing faults. We will continue to update you as we get more information.

American investigates as 777 engine fails to respond to throttle
By David Kaminski-Morrow

American Airlines is investigating an incident yesterday during which the engine on one of its Boeing 777-200ERs apparently failed to respond to throttle commands for several seconds during approach to Los Angeles.

The incident involved American’s flight AA299 from Miami and occurred at a height of around 2,000ft as the aircraft was descending to Los Angeles.

In an information statement to members, the Allied Pilots Association – which represents American Airlines cockpit crew – says the aircraft experienced a “hang-upâ€￾ of its left-hand engine.

“The auto-throttles were on and the left engine hung at approach idle as the right engine accelerated normally,â€￾ says the association.

Rest of story: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/...o-throttle.html

Scary. Hope there isn't some kind of epidemic.

Edit: Fat fingers here - should be flight 229.

 

[Garfield1966]

Does anyone think this is related to the problems with the BA flt that went splat at LHR a while back?

 

[tech2101]

Does anyone think this is related to the problems with the BA flt that went splat at LHR a while back?

Yes

 

[SkydrolJunkie]

Does anyone think this is related to the problems with the BA flt that went splat at LHR a while back?

Duh

 

[Art at ISP]

This is interesting -- similar in timing to the BA incident as well. I wonder if this aircraft operated the PVG service at any point in the past couple of weeks--the BA flight was PEK-LHR and someone mentioned contaminated fuel from China as a possibility.

On a personal note, I saw 299 take off on 27 from MIA Thursday-the very flight in question from my hotel room near the airport....not that it matters.

 

[Bob Owens]

I dont know what cause this latest incident but Aircraft fuel tanks produce water as a result of extreme temperature changes. Much of the water in aircraft fuel comes from condensation. The fuel gets extremely cold during the flight. Its normal to see ice on the bottom of aircraft wings even in the summer. Sometimes there is so much condensation that even on a hot day it literally rains under the wings. Mechanics used to have to sump the tanks before ER trips, however too many trips were being delayed or cancelled because there was so much water in the tanks that the sumps were frozen. The FAA approved fix for this was to stop trying to remove the water from the tanks.

 

[Garfield1966]

One of my bosses looked that the flight and saw that it was grounded on the 28th whenit landed and on Sat it took off for a 45 min test flight with 3 MX and 2 pilots but the pilots were not AA. No idea where they were from but our guess was Boeing.

 

[ual777fan]

Would this happen to be the same 777 that had the compressor issues a few weeks ago. AA100 had to u-turn over the cape and make an emergency landing at JFK...