Dubai : American aviation regulator the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday ordered Boeing to fix a software problem in hundreds of 777 aircraft that could cause them to overrun the runway, AFP has reported.
The FAA said 818 planes would be affected by the order to fix a software malfunction that caused two airliners to abort takeoffs in January in the US.
"Since 1995, there have been nine reported instances of a rejected takeoff because of higher than normal control column forces at takeoff rotation due to the pilot inadvertently engaging the autopilot in lower-speed takeoff roll," the FAA reportedly said.
Boeing could not comment immediately when contacted by Gulf News.
Meanwhile, regional airlines that are Boeing customers will have to safeguard against the malfunction in the 777s.
Boeing has sent Emirates airline a multi-operator message to update the autopilot flight director computer software across the fleet of 777s, according to the airline.
"We are currently implementing these recommendations and expect this to be completed across our entire 777 fleet by the beginning of April 2010," an Emirates spokesperson said.
The airline which has 85 777s in its fleet, including many freighters, said it has not experienced, or observed, such a fault on the 777s in its fleet.
