Air India to reinspect fuel switches of Boeing 787 fleet day after scare

AIr republic of india testament be re-inspecting fire verify switches (FCS) of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner swift, HT has learnt. This comes a day after an Air India pilot on Monday reported a defect with the fuel control switch of a Boeing 787-8 plane after operating the flight from London Heathrow to Karnataka's Bengaluru.Air India on Monday grounded the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in question after the pilot reported a possible issue with a fuel control switch.The FCS component has been at the centre of the investigation into the deadly June 12 crash of a Dreamliner aircraft in Gujarat's Ahmedabad last year, a tragedy that killed 241 of the 242 passengers on board.Air India said in a statement it had informed the regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), about the issue. “We are aware that one of our pilots has reported a possible defect on the fuel control switch of a Boeing 787-8 aircraft. After receiving this initial information, we have grounded the said aircraft and are involving the OEM (original equipment manufacturer ) to get the pilot’s concerns checked on a priority basis,” an earlier HT report quoted the Air India statement.The fuel switch issue was reported on Air India Flight AI132 from London Heathrow to Bengaluru, which landed at the Karnataka city on Monday morning. There were more than 200 people on board, PTI news agency quoted sources as saying.The fuel switch issueThe above-mentioned sources said that after landing at Bengaluru on Monday morning, the pilot recorded in the defect log book that the left engine fuel switch slipped from 'RUN' to 'CUT OFF' and that it was not getting locked in its position.'RUN' and 'CUT OFF' are used to start or shut down engines, respectively.Fuel control switches on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner are guarded, two-position toggles (RUN/CUTOFF) located on the center pedestal behind the throttles that manage engine fuel flow, according to information available on the web. They involve a spring-loaded, V-shaped locking mechanism requiring pilots to lift the switch before moving it, in a bid to prevent accidental activation.This assumes significance in the wake of the increased scrutiny faced by the airline after the June 12 crash. It also heightens the urgency for the release of the final report on the crash of AI171, also a 787-8 variant, which went down shortly after take off from Ahmedabad airport.A preliminary report on the June 12 crash released a month later by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) had found that fuel control switches—there are two of them in a Dreamliner cockpit, between the two pilots --were found in the “cutoff” position. In the cockpit voice recording cited in the AAIB report on Ahmedabad plane crash, one of the pilots was heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so.