An American Airlines aircraft that only began operations a month and a half ago was forced to land on Friday just over an hour into its planned seven-hour flight due to a “possible mechanical issue.”
American Airlines Flight AA737—which is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner—departed from London Heathrow Airport on Friday a little after noon bound for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The aircraft gained elevation, but paused at 10,000 feet, continuing to stay at or around that level for the duration of the flight instead of climbing to commercial airplanes’ usual height of around 30,000-40,000 feet.
According to The Aviation Herald, this pause in elevation gain was due to the crew “reporting their flaps were stuck and could not be retracted.”
About 15 minutes into the flight, the plane began flying in circles over Surrey Hills National Landscape, according to FlightRadar24. It headed towards the English Channel, but before it could begin the water crossing, it flew in circles for an additional 15 minutes before opting to turn back. This was when the aircraft allegedly “dumped fuel near Brighton,” according to The Aviation Herald.
American Airlines said there were 196 customers and 12 crew members on board. X user Mike Meyer responded to a thread, claiming that he was aboard the plane and that the aircraft “dumped 20,000 lbs of fuel before we could land over English Channel.” He also attached a video of what appears to be fuel or some other liquid leaving a plane.
I’m still on it …they dumped 20,000 lbs of fuel before we could land over English Channel pic.twitter.com/sLs3NppY9N
— Mike Meyer (@TheMikeMeyer) October 3, 2025
The plane then returned safely to land at Heathrow Airport less than an hour and a half after it departed.
FlightRadar24 posted the plane’s flight pattern on X, noting that the aircraft “didn’t get very far today before needing to return to London due to stuck flaps. The aircraft returned safely to LHR and taxied to a remote stand.”
Once the plane touched down at Heathrow, it turned off the runway where a team of emergency responders were waiting for it, lights blinking through the rainy day.
Flight Focus 365, a YouTube livestream of Heathrow’s departures and arrivals, shows at least three fire trucks and six police cars approaching the plane.
American Airlines told the Daily Beast that the emergency vehicles presence was “per standard protocol, first responders met the aircraft when it returned to LHR.”
The London Fire Brigade confirmed that “no direct action” was required, according to The Daily Mail. The outlet also reported that there had been “suggestions that concerns had been raised over the plane being overweight on landing.”
Meyer updated people on X that the flight was canceled and he had been booked on a different one tomorrow.
American Airlines told the Daily Beast in a statement that “American Airlines Flight 737, with service from London (LHR) to Philadelphia (PHL), returned to LHR due to a possible mechanical issue. The aircraft landed safely and taxied under its own power, where our maintenance team is conducting an inspection. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and we apologize for the inconvenience.”
Alarmingly, the plane wasn’t an old or outdated model. In fact, it was relatively brand new. Despite American Airlines operating 22 Boeing 787-9 aircraft as of June, Planespotters reports that this specific plane, was delivered in August 2025 and entered into service on August 15, making the aircraft only about a month and a half old.
Despite recently adding this 787-9 Dreamliner to their fleet, American Airlines has been upgrading their Boeing 787-9 models, implementing “premium Boeing 787-9″ in June to their fleet.
The company announced that the premium model would operate from Philadelphia to London Heathrow.
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