NEW DELHI: Air India has begun inspecting fuel control switches on its 33 Boeing 787 aircraft after grounding a flight over a possible defect, said an internal company note seen by AFP on Tuesday (Feb 3).
The checks came as Indian authorities were probing the crash last year of a 787 Dreamliner that killed 260 people shortly after takeoff.
News of the inspection followed Air India’s grounding on Monday of a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet after one of its pilots reported a possible defect in the aircraft’s fuel control switch.
“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,” the note said.
The airline, owned by the Tata Group conglomerate, has also launched a precautionary fleet-wide re-inspection of the switch latch, it added.
A source close to the company told AFP that fresh inspection of several planes had been completed already, with no adverse findings yet.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the fuel switch inspections.
A London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad in June last year, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground.
An inspection of the locking feature on the fuel control switches of the aircraft after the crash found no issues.
A preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said fuel supply to the jet’s engines was cut off moments before impact, raising questions about possible pilot error.
According to the AAIB, one pilot was heard asking the other why fuel had been cut off, to which the second pilot replied that he had not done so.
Two major Indian commercial pilots’ associations, as well as the father of one of the dead pilots, have rejected suggestions that human error caused the crash.
Indian authorities have yet to release a final report into the crash.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/air-india-inspect-boeing-787-fuel-switches-5903646
