Says Problem Unrelated To British Airways Incident

American Airlines grounded one of its 777-200s following a reported autothrottle problem last week, as the aircraft approached to land at Los Angeles International Airport.

According to a report in Air Business Travel News, Flight 299 from Miami to LAX experienced slow engine response to autothrottle inputs February 28, as the aircraft descended through 2,000 feet.

The scenario appears to be similar to that encountered by a British Airways 777 in January, when both engines failed to respond to throttle inputs moments before landing at London Heathrow Airport. That aircraft, operating as Flight 38 from Beijing, China, landed short of the runway January 17, injuring some of the 152 persons onboard.

While the investigation is ongoing, officials have all-but ruled out a mechanical issue in that accident, as ANN reported. There was some damage to the fuel pumps, investigators noted, and what were termed small items of debris found in the BA plane's fuel tanks.

Despite the apparent similarities, however, American Airlines officials stressed the two incidents appear to be unrelated.

The aircraft has been taken out of service and an internal investigation is underway," the airline stated. "A preliminary analysis by Rolls-Royce of the information recorded of the incident by the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) indicates that this was a very different event to that experienced by BA038."

The Allied Pilots Association (APA) represents pilots at American. In a media statement issued last week, the union noted the aircraft's right engine continued to function normally, unlike the British Airways incident -- in which the right engine failed initially, followed approximately eight seconds later by the left.

"AA Flight 229 had the left engine hang up on approach to LAX at approximately 2,000ft," the union stated. "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."

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.faa.gov