Air India Finds ‘No Issues' After Inspections of Boeing Fuel Switches

New York Times

4 days ago

Air India said on Tuesday that it had concluded inspections of its fleet of Boeing planes and had not found any problems with the locking mechanisms of their fuel switches, a feature that has become a focus of scrutiny after a deadly crash.
Last month, 260 people were killed, including 19 on the ground, after a London-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 jet went down seconds after takeoff in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.
The investigation into the crash's cause may take months or years, but a preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau found that the plane's fuel switches, which control the supply of fuel to the engine, had changed position seconds before the crash.
Whether intentional or accidental, it appeared unlikely that the switches were moved without human involvement, safety experts said. Fuel switches have locking mechanisms that are designed to prevent accidental movement.
Last week, regulators in India ordered that airlines inspect all the fuel switches on their Boeing planes. In a statement on Tuesday, Air India, the nation's flagship carrier, said that it had 'completed precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism' of the switches. 'In the inspections, no issues were found with the said locking mechanism,' it said.
In the June 12 crash of Air India Flight 171, the fuel control switches for both engines moved from the 'RUN' position to 'CUTOFF' one after the other, about a second apart. The fuel supply stopped, and the aircraft began to lose altitude.
According to the Indian investigation bureau's initial report, 'one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.'
About 10 seconds after the fuel was cut off, the switches were moved to turn the fuel back on, but the plane did not regain power quickly enough to stop its descent, the report found.
Mujib Mashal contributed reporting from New Delhi.