American Airlines Boeing 777 Makes Los Angeles Emergency Landing

An American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER landed safely at its destination airport after the crew reported a potential mechanical issue on March 12, 2024. It stayed on the ground after it had landed for several hours before returning to commercial service.

Low tire pressure indication

According to The Aviation Herald, the pilots of the American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, registered as N796AN, reported a low tire pressure warning on the right-hand (RH) main landing gear (MLG) and requested emergency services to be present after they landed. After the widebody aircraft touched down, it vacated the runway and was inspected by the emergency services, which reported no visual evidence of damage.

The aircraft was operating flight AA345 from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on March 12. The aircraft landed at LAX at 21:10 (UTC -7), staying at the airport for several hours after the incident. However, the flight crew never squawked 7700, the general code for an onboard emergency. An American Airlines spokesperson confirmed the incident to Simple Flying, noting that the aircraft landed safely and without incident at LAX after the flight crew reported a potential mechanical problem with the aircraft.

“The aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power and customers deplaned normally. The pilots received an indication that the pressure was low in one of the aircraft’s tires.”

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Domestic widebody flight

Flight AA345 is one of American Airlines flights that deploys widebody aircraft on domestic itineraries. Including flights to Honolulu Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), the airline has scheduled 222 one-way weekly domestic flights with twin-aisle jets, averaging 267.1 seats per departure in March 2024, according to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium.

Photo: Bradley Caslin | Shutterstock

The largest share of these flights depart from DFW (55 weekly flights), with Miami International Airport (MIA, 50 weekly flights) being close second. Third, fourth, and fifth places belong to LAX, HNL, and Pheonix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), with 28, 21, and 15 one-way weekly flights, respectively.

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23-year-old aircraft

Ch-aviation data showed that the American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER was delivered to the airline in December 2000. Since then, the airframe has accumulated 88,361 flight hours (FH) and 11,442 flight cycles (FC) as of December 31, 2023.

In total, American Airlines has 47 Boeing 777-200ER aircraft in its fleet in addition to the 20 777-300ERs that it also operates. So far, it has retired none of its Triple Sevens, with the type surviving the airline’s ambitions to simplify its fleet during the past few years.

Photo: Wirestock Creators | Shutterstock

According to the carrier’s Investor Day presentation, American Airlines operated nine different cockpit types, including four different widebody aircraft families: the Airbus A330, which was a type it inherited from its merger with US Airways, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, and Boeing 787 in 2019. Now, the airline only operates the Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 cockpits in the twin-aisle segment.

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