Narrative:

We had been trying to find altitudes with smooth air. We were in light to moderate chop; which had been reported at all altitudes. Mountain wave had also been reported. We were cruising at .81 mach when we encountered three or four strong bumps; at which time the airspeed went from .81 M to .84 to.85 M. I reduced power to keep from going through maximum mach; which is .85 M. As I retarded the throttles; we encountered more bumps and the airspeed dropped immediately down to .75 M. I advanced the throttle while in the bumps at which time the left engine flamed out. This all happened within a few seconds. We advised the controllers; explained our situation; and requested a descent. We descended to FL240; restored the left engine; and climbed back to FL400 without incident.the fact that it happened so fast was a contributing factor. I possibly could have moved the throttles a little slower and prevented this from happening; but not sure. The crew worked very well together to resolve the situation and at no time were we off course or off altitude.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Gulfstream Jet Captain reported the left engine flamed out possibly due to rapid throttle movement in turbulence.

Narrative: We had been trying to find altitudes with smooth air. We were in light to moderate chop; which had been reported at all altitudes. Mountain wave had also been reported. We were cruising at .81 Mach when we encountered three or four strong bumps; at which time the airspeed went from .81 M to .84 to.85 M. I reduced power to keep from going through maximum Mach; which is .85 M. As I retarded the throttles; we encountered more bumps and the airspeed dropped immediately down to .75 M. I advanced the throttle while in the bumps at which time the left engine flamed out. This all happened within a few seconds. We advised the Controllers; explained our situation; and requested a descent. We descended to FL240; restored the left engine; and climbed back to FL400 without incident.The fact that it happened so fast was a contributing factor. I possibly could have moved the throttles a little slower and prevented this from happening; but not sure. The crew worked very well together to resolve the situation and at no time were we off course or off altitude.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.