Air India says completed inspection of fuel switch locking system on Boeing fleet, no issues found

New Delhi: Private carrier Air India on Tuesday said it has completed "precautionary" inspection of the locking mechanism of the fuel control switch (FCS) on its Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft fleet and no issues were found.

Aviation safety regulator DGCA last week directed airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes by July 21 after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said in its preliminary report that fuel switches were cut off before the Air India plane crash last month.

PSU Watch is now on Whatsapp Channels. Click here to join

Air India flight AI 171, operated with Boeing 787-8, en route to London Gatwick, crashed soon after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 of the 242 passengers onboard and another 19 on the ground.

"In the inspections, no issues were found with the said locking mechanism," the Tata Group airline said in a statement.

Fuel control switches regulate the flow of fuel into the aircraft engines.

In its preliminary report on the Boeing 787-8 crash, AAIB said the fuel supply to both engines of the plane was cut off within a gap of one second, causing confusion in the cockpit soon after takeoff.

Boeing 787s are part of Air India's fleet, while B737s are operated by its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express.

Besides these, other domestic carriers -- IndiGo, Spicejet and Akasa -- also have these types of aircraft in their operations.

With this, the two airlines -- AI and AIX -- have complied with the directives of the DGCA issued on July 14, Air India said in the statement.

Air India said it started voluntary inspections on 12 July and completed them within the prescribed time limit set by the DGCA.

There are more than 150 Boeing 737s and 787s being operated by Indian airlines. Of these, IndiGo has seven B737 Max 8 and one B787-9.

All these are leased planes -- either on wet or damp lease -- and therefore, they are not registered in India.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in 2018, flagged the potential disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature on certain models of Boeing aircraft, including 787s and 737s.

It was mentioned in a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB), but there was no airworthiness directive, indicating that the issue was not a safety concern.

"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 AAIB preliminary report said.

AAIB, which mentioned FAA's SAIB in the report, did not suggest any recommended action.

Air India has a total of 33 wide-body Boeing 787s, while Air India Express has around 75 narrow-body 737s.

Akasa Air and SpiceJet operate Boeing 737s. IndiGo also operates Boeing 787 and 737s, but they are leased from foreign airlines, which means they won't be subject to the DGCA directive.

(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)