E-Paper
Air India to reinspect fuel switches of Boeing 787 fleet day after scare
This comes a day after an Air India pilot on Monday reported a defect with the fuel control switch of a Boeing 787-8 plane.
Air India has ordered a precautionary fleet-wide reinspection of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) latch on its Boeing 787 aircraft after a pilot flagged a possible defect during operations earlier this week, prompting the airline to ground one aircraft and escalate the matter to aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
The aircraft, which the airline later grounded, operated flight AI132 from London to Bengaluru and landed at Bengaluru on Monday morning with at least 200 people on board. The issue was subsequently highlighted by the pilot in command (PIC) in the aircraft’s logbook.
According to Safety Matters Foundation, an independent aviation safety education platform, the pilot of the aircraft reported abnormal behaviour of the LEFT engine fuel control switch on a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, VT-ANX.
“During engine start, the switch failed to remain locked in the RUN position on two attempts, moving towards CUTOFF — a malfunction that could, under specific conditions, lead to an inadvertent engine shutdown in flight,” the platform said.
“Following the reported defect involving a Fuel Control Switch on one of our B787 aircraft, Engineering has escalated the matter to Boeing for priority evaluation,” Air India said in an internal communication to pilots operating the B787 fleet.
“In the interim, while we await Boeing’s response, our engineers — out of an abundance of caution — have initiated a precautionary fleet-wide re-inspection of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) latch to verify normal operations,” the communication said.
The airline assured its pilots that no irregularities had been detected so far.
“To date, no adverse findings have been reported on the aircraft for which this re-inspection is completed,” Air India informed its pilots.
It also urged flight and maintenance crew to promptly report any defects observed during operations and to ensure that all mandated actions are completed before accepting an aircraft for service.
“We are in contact with Air India and are supporting their review of this matter,” a Boeing spokesperson said on Monday.
Captain Amit Singh, founder of Safety Matters Foundation, said, “This discrepancy raises urgent questions. Were the checks conducted by the airline after the Air India 171 crash thorough? Is this a new, recurring defect? Passengers and crews deserve unambiguous answers.”
