American Airlines' Boeing 777 Makes Emergency Landing in LA, Authorities Blame 'Mechanical Issues'

Los Angeles – An American Airlines Boeing 777 was forced to make an emergency landing at the Los Angeles airport due to a suspected mechanical issue. According to CBS News, the flight was heading from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and landed on LAX runway no. 25 at around 8:45 pm (local time). Shortly after the aircraft made an emergency landing, an American Airlines spokesperson said that the pilot reported a “mechanical issue” before the aircraft landed. Recently, multiple Boeing planes have witnessed major malfunctions causing pilots to conduct emergency landings. 

Despite early reporting the authorities noted that the aircraft had suffered a blown tyre. However, the cause of the malfunction remains unclear, CBS News reported. After the emergency landing, SkyCal was overhead as the plane taxied into a gate, where the boarding bridge was connected to allow passengers to de-board. 

The sixth incident in just over a week

The Wednesday incident was the latest setback to a slew of safety issues detected in several Boeing aircraft. The problems became magnified following the mysterious death of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett. Barnett was one of the first whistleblowers to raise safety and quality control concerns in the company’s production line. According to The Hill, the 62-year-old died of an apparent self-inflicted wound. The Charleston County Coroner’s office notified that his body was found in a truck at a hotel's parking lot. In 2019, he blew the whistle on his company and claimed that overworked employees at its South Carolina plant frequently fitted substandard parts on planes. He also reported about the faulty oxygen systems in some of the planes, which could result in as many as 1 in 4 oxygen masks not operating properly, The Hill reported. Earlier this week, a United Airlines Boeing 777 en route to Japan from San Francisco was forced into an emergency landing in at LAX when it lost a tyre. A few days before that, another Boeing jet was forced to make an emergency landing in LAX after taking off from San Francisco due to hydraulic issues.