Air India Completes Fuel Control Switch Inspections On Boeing 787 Planes, Finds No Issues
Air India on Wednesday completed inspections of the locking mechanism of fuel control switches (FCS) on its Boeing 787 aircraft and found no issues, an airline official said.
The move came after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday directed airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking systems on their Boeing 787 and 737 planes. This followed a preliminary report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) which indicated that the fuel switches were cut off before the Air India plane crash last month that claimed 260 lives.
'Over the weekend, our Engineering team initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of Fuel Control Switch (FCS) on all our Boeing 787 aircraft. The inspections have been completed and no issues were found," the official said, citing an internal message sent to Air India pilots.
The official also confirmed that all Boeing 787-8 aircraft in the fleet have had the Throttle Control Module (TCM) replaced as per Boeing's maintenance schedule. The FCS is a part of this module.
Fuel control switches regulate the flow of fuel to the aircraft engines. According to the AAIB's preliminary investigation report released on Saturday, fuel supply to both engines was cut off within one second of each other, causing confusion in the cockpit shortly after takeoff.
The 15-page report revealed that the fuel control switches for both engines moved from the 'run" to the 'cutoff" position within a second, leading to an immediate loss of altitude.
'In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off? The other pilot responded that he did not do so," the report said.
While the AAIB referenced a Safety Alert for Operators (SAIB) issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), it did not recommend any specific actions.
The airline has also urged pilots to stay alert and report any technical issues in the existing defect reporting system, the official added.
(With inputs from PTI)
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