Checking fuel control switches on all Dreamliners: Air India to pilots

Air India has ordered precautionary inspections of fuel control switches across its Boeing 787 fleet after a pilot reported abnormal behaviour in a left engine switch on one aircraft

Air India has started checking fuel control switches on all its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft after a pilot on Monday reported abnormal behaviour in the left engine fuel control switch on one of the planes.

 

In a message sent to pilots on Tuesday morning, the airline said that following the “reported defect” involving a fuel control switch on one of its B787 aircraft, the engineering department has escalated the matter to aircraft maker Boeing for “priority evaluation”.

 

“In the interim, while we await Boeing’s response, our engineers — out of an abundance of caution — have initiated precautionary fleet-wide re-inspection of the fuel control switch (FCS) latch to verify normal operations. To date, no adverse findings have been reported on the aircraft for which this re-inspection is completed,” the airline added.

 

Air India reminded all pilots to promptly report any defects observed during operations and to ensure that all required actions are completed prior to accepting an aircraft for any flight operation.

 

On Monday, Safety Matters Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, issued a statement about an incident on Air India flight AI132 from London to Bengaluru, operated earlier in the day by a Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

 

The Foundation said the crew observed that the left engine fuel control switch failed to remain locked in the “Run” position during engine start on two attempts and moved towards the “Cutoff” position — a malfunction that could, under specific conditions, lead to an inadvertent engine shutdown during flight.

 

Fuel control switches were at the centre of the Air India Boeing 787 crash involving flight AI171 on June 12 last year in Ahmedabad, in which 241 of the 242 people on board were killed, according to the preliminary report of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released in July 2025.

 

The report said both fuel control switches were moved to the “Cutoff” position in quick succession and, although they were returned to “Run” about 10 seconds later, the engines had already flamed out.

 

According to the report, one pilot on the AI171 flight asked the other why he had moved the switches, and the other responded by denying it. The report did not specify whether it was the captain or the first officer who asked the question. It did not rule out technical faults and noted that aviation medicine and psychology experts were involved in the ongoing investigation.

 

Safety Matters Foundation on Monday called for the immediate and transparent disclosure by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Air India of the findings once the inspection of the Boeing 787 involved in the recent incident is completed.

 

The Foundation also urged the DGCA to conduct an urgent regulatory review to determine whether Monday’s incident is isolated or indicative of a fleet-wide issue, which could necessitate the issuance of an immediate airworthiness directive.