Air India grounds Dreamliner after pilot flags fuel switch concern
Air India has grounded a Boeing 787-8 after a pilot reported a possible fault involving the aircraft’s fuel control switch, an incident that has drawn renewed attention to the Air India Dreamliner fuel switch amid an ongoing investigation into last year’s fatal crash.
The airline said it had informed the regulator and moved to examine the concern as a priority. A spokesperson for Boeing confirmed the manufacturer was in contact with Air India and supporting its review.
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The Air India Dreamliner involved had operated a service from London to Bengaluru, according to reports, though the airline has not disclosed further operational details.
Context shaped by last year’s crash
The decision comes against the backdrop of an investigation into last June’s Air India crash of a 787-8 shortly after departure from Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people. India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry, with a final report expected later this year.
A preliminary update published last summer said the aircraft’s engines shut down when fuel switches moved from the “run” to the “cut off” position soon after take-off, without establishing how that movement occurred. Following the update, US regulators stated that fuel control switches on Boeing aircraft were safe.
India’s civil aviation authority, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, subsequently ordered checks of cockpit fuel switches on Boeing 787 and 737 fleets operating in the country. Air India said at the time that inspections found no fault with the locking mechanism, a position the airline reiterated this week.
On Tuesday, the airline began re-checking fuel switches across its Dreamliner fleet after the pilot’s report, according to news agency accounts.
Expert view
Aviation consultant and former accident investigator Tim Atkinson said the design itself was intended to prevent inadvertent movement. “These switches are designed with one purpose in mind, and that is that they cannot be moved unintentionally,” he said. “There is no doubt in my mind that the design is good. I would be astonished to find it had some kind of latent defect.”
For readers seeking official context on the ongoing inquiry, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau publishes updates on major investigations and safety findings.
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