The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday began an inspection of an Air India Boeing 787 aircraft that was grounded a day ago after a pilot reported abnormal behavior of the fuel control switch (FCS) in one of its engines, triggering safety checks and a fleet-wide re-inspection by the airline.
A Boeing 787-8 aircraft in Air India’s fleet. (PTI File)The aircraft commander flagged the issue in the log book after observing abnormal behavior of the left engine FCS of the Boeing 787-8 aircraft VT-ANX delivered to Air India in 2017. The entry states: “…Left control switch slips cut off from run, when locked in position, shuts off. Zero.”
Officials said the affected material will be removed after obtaining mandatory approval from the aviation regulator. “The FCS will be sent to the OEM for detailed analysis,” said an official aware of the matter.
“The aircraft, subject to inspection, will be released after installing an alternative FCS,” a second official said.
A person familiar with the matter said that the switch installed on the plane, which operated the London-Bengaluru flight on Monday morning, had used around 3,500 hours.
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When asked about the component’s service life, an industry insider said, “The total life of an FCS is up to 20,000 hours.”
While there was no new update from Boeing, the plane maker said on Monday that it is in contact with Air India and is supporting the airline’s review of the issue.
Meanwhile, Air India has ordered a precautionary, fleet-wide re-inspection of FCS latches on all its Boeing 787 aircraft after the incident grounded one aircraft and escalated the matter to Boeing.
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“Engineering has escalated the matter to Boeing for priority evaluation,” Air India said in an internal communication to pilots operating the B787 fleet.
The airline added that no irregularities have been detected so far. “To date, no adverse outcomes have been reported for aircraft for which this re-inspection has been completed,” it said.
