B737-700
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 194
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Speed All Types; Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Aircraft; Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
We leveled off at a cruise altitude of 38;000 FT with the autopilot and autothrottles engaged. As we leveled we encountered light wake turbulence. I was the pilot not flying and was putting away my charts when I heard the clacker and looked up and saw the speed of .827. The First Officer was already reducing thrust. We both noted the autothrottles had disengaged. Our best reasoning is that it disconnected when we hit the wake turbulence as we leveled at altitude. I contacted Dispatch and Maintenance via ACARS to report the event and made a logbook entry. We continued the flight to the final destination. We were met by Maintenance and handed the aircraft over to a new crew.
B737-700 Captain reported an overspeed at FL380 following a wake vortex encounter that could have disconnected the autothrottles.