Air India finds no issues with locking mechanism of fuel control switch in B787 planes

Air India on Wednesday completed the inspection of the locking mechanism of fuel control switches in its Boeing 787 planes and did not find any issues, according to an airline official.

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On Monday, aviation watchdog DGCA directed airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes against the backdrop of AAIB's preliminary report stating that fuel switches were cut off before the Air India plane crash that killed 260 people last month.

"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, quoting an internal message sent to Air India pilots.

The official said all Boeing 787-8 aircraft have undergone Throttle Control Module (TCM) replacement as per the Boeing maintenance schedule. FCS is part of this module.

FCS regulates the flow of fuel into the aircraft engines. In its preliminary report on the Boeing 787-8 crash released on Saturday, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (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 take-off.

A 15-page preliminary investigation report into the Air India plane crash revealed that fuel-control switches of the two engines moved from the "run" to the "cutoff" position, within the space of one second, leading to 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.

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

The airline has also asked pilots to remain vigilant and report any defect in the technical log, as per the existing reporting process, the official added.