Scare prompts Air India to reinspect fuel control switches on Boeing 787s
Air India has launched a fleet-wide re-inspection of Boeing 787 Fuel Control Switch (FCS) latches after a pilot flagged a defect. This follows a Monday incident where a switch failed to lock, risking an engine shutdown. One aircraft was grounded. Air India is working with Boeing to ensure passenger safety, verifying normal FCS operations across its Dreamliner fleet.
New Delhi: Air India has ordered a precautionary, fleet-wide reinspection of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) latch on its Boeing 787s, days after a pilot flagged a possible defect during operations. Following this, the airline grounded one aircraft and escalated the matter to aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
Operating flight AI132 from London to Bengaluru, the aircraft landed on Monday morning with at least 200 people on board, after which the pilot in command (PIC) highlighted the issue in the logbook. It was later grounded.
Safety Matters Foundation, an independent aviation safety education platform, pointed out that the pilot of the aircraft reported abnormal behaviour of the LEFT engine fuel control switch on a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, VT-ANX.
The platform underlined: "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.”
What was Air India's internal communication to pilots
In an internal communication to pilots operating the B787 aircraft, Air India 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.”
It added: "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 airline told its pilots that no irregularities had been found so far. Air India told its pilots: "To date, no adverse findings have been reported on the aircraft for which this re-inspection is completed.”
The airline also called on flight and maintenance crews to quickly flag any defects during operations and to ensure all required actions are finished before an aircraft is cleared for service.
"We are in contact with Air India and are supporting their review of this matter,” a Boeing spokesperson reportedly said on Monday.
Captain Amit Singh, founder of Safety Matters Foundation, was quoted as saying by HT, "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.”