Air India completes checks on Boeing 787, 737 aircraft, says no issue found

Following the June 12 crash of a Boeing Dreamliner in Ahmedabad, Air India completed checks on fuel control switch locking systems and found no faults in its fleet

Air India on Tuesday announced that it has completed precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft in its fleet. The airline confirmed that no issues were found during the checks.

 

The inspection comes after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a directive on July 14, requiring all Indian carriers operating Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft to inspect the locking mechanism of fuel control switches and submit findings by July 21.

 

The DGCA gave the inspection orders after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary report on the June 12 Air India plane crash, in which over 260 people were killed.

   

What did AAIB preliminary report say?

 

The AAIB released a preliminary report a month after a crash involving Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet. The aircraft, flying from Ahmedabad to Gatwick (London), crashed minutes after take-off, killing all but one passenger on board. 

 

The report indicated that the fuel control switches on Flight 171 had transitioned from 'run' to 'cutoff' seconds after take-off. This resulted in a dual engine failure and the subsequent crash in Ahmedabad’s Meghani Nagar area.

 

Air India, Air India Express both cleared

 

Boeing 737 aircraft are part of the fleet operated by Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary of Air India. In its statement, the airline said that both Air India and Air India Express complied with the DGCA directive within the stipulated time frame. The voluntary inspections had begun on July 12. 

 

As reported earlier by Business Standard, Air India had already informed its pilots that inspections of the fuel control switch locking systems on all Boeing 787 aircraft were complete, with no defects found. 

 

Pilots advised to remain vigilant

 

The airline reiterated the importance of continued operational vigilance in its advisory to crew. “Please continue to remain vigilant and report any defect in the Technical Log, as per the existing reporting process. The Coruson tool is also available, should there be any concerns identified during operations,” it stated. 

Air India crash

 

On June 12, a Gatwick-bound flight from Ahmedabad crashed into a medical college in Meghani Nagar area, resulting in the loss of over 260 lives, including 241 out of 242 people on board. The crash, considered to be Air India's worst tragedy in decades, prompted questions over passenger safety. The only survivor was an Indian-origin British national, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who sat on seat 11A, adjacent to the emergency exit. Ramesh managed to escape with injuries through the broken emergency exit.