Air India has completed inspections of fuel control switches on its 33 Boeing 787 jets, the private carrier said on Wednesday, days after a flight was grounded for a possible fault.
Air India said in a statement on Wednesday that the national civil aviation regulator had conducted its own “independent inspection”. (@DGCAIndia)The airline grounded a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on Monday after pilots reported a possible malfunction in a fuel control switch.
But in its inspection, the airline said “no problems were identified”.
The checks come as Indian authorities investigate the crash of a 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India last year that killed 260 people shortly after takeoff.
Air India said in a statement on Wednesday that the national civil aviation regulator conducted its own “independent inspection” of the fuel control switch, “subsequently clearing it”.
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“The safety of our passengers and crew is Air India’s highest priority,” said the carrier, which is owned by the Tata Group.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said on Tuesday that mishandling of the fuel switch, which controls fuel in the aircraft’s engines, caused the problem on Monday’s flight, not a mechanical fault.
It advised the airline to strengthen crew training over Boeing’s proposed approach.
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Last year, a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad in June, killing one of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground.
An inspection of the locking feature on the aircraft’s fuel control switches after the accident found no problems.
A preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said fuel supply to the jet’s engines had been cut off shortly before impact, raising questions about possible pilot error.
Two major Indian commercial pilot associations, as well as the father of one of the dead pilots, have rejected suggestions the crash was attributed to human error.
Indian authorities are yet to release the final report on the accident.
