{"id":142901,"date":"2026-05-16T19:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/?p=142901"},"modified":"2026-05-16T15:25:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:55:42","slug":"american-airlines-777-lands-heavy-with-11-hours-of-fuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviationa2z.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/american-airlines-777-lands-heavy-with-11-hours-of-fuel\/","title":{"rendered":"American Airlines Boeing 777 Pilots Lands Heavy With 11 Hours Of Fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FORT WORTH-<\/strong> American Airlines (AA)<\/a> was forced to return a London-bound Boeing 777-200ER<\/a> to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) on Friday after the widebody suffered an engine failure during takeoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aircraft was operating the carrier’s daily long-haul service to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) when the crew turned back less than an hour into the flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilots declared a mayday and reported they could not restart the left engine, with 11 hours of fuel remaining onboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They chose not to jettison fuel before returning, so the aircraft landed significantly overweight and used almost the entire runway to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"American
Photo: Cado Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

American Airlines 777 Engine Failure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AA194 is American’s daily long-haul flight from its hub at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) to London Heathrow (LHR)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aircraft involved, registered N759AN, is a nearly 25-year-old airframe, according to flight tracking data from Flightradar24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It pushed back from gate B13 at approximately 4:35 PM, 5 minutes after its scheduled pushback time of 4:30 PM, then taxied to Runway 25R on the south side of the airfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than 15 minutes later, the aircraft began its takeoff roll and became airborne at approximately 4:49 PM, assuming the normal westbound departure path from PHX. By 4:52 PM, it was climbing through 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) and had turned north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Simple Flying<\/a>, the timing of the engine failure remains unclear. ATC recordings obtained by ThePlaneSpotter captured the moment the crew declared an emergency:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“American 194, we’re gonna declare mayday, mayday, mayday. We have an engine failure. We’re unable to restart it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew then said they would be heading back to Phoenix and leveled the aircraft off at around 7,200 feet (2,195 meters).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just 6 minutes after departure, the plane was north of PHX and heading east before it made a sharp turn to the north over Loop 101 in north Scottsdale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It then turned back west and maintained its heading as it traveled just south of Lake Pleasant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilots confirmed that the left Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engine, known as engine #1, had failed. While rerouting back to PHX, the crew informed controllers that dumping fuel would not be necessary, despite a total of 283 passengers onboard. The exchange with ATC was brief:<\/p>\n\n\n\n