‘No points’: Air India clears Boeing 787 gas management switches because it concludes security inspections

Air India has accomplished an inspection of the locking mechanism on the gas swap management switches on its Boeing 787 plane, concluding that there aren’t any points with the system.

The Plane Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) final week launched its preliminary report on the crash of the Air India Dreamliner from Ahmedabad to London, blaming defective gas swap management switches that led to a twin engine shutdown.

DGCA on Monday directed airways to examine the gas swap locking system of their Boeing 787 and 737 planes, two days after AAIB’s preliminary report stated gas switches have been lower off earlier than the Air India airplane crashed final month.

In the meantime, an investigation into the crash is at present ongoing because the AAIB tries to determine whether or not a technical snag led to a gas management swap malfunction, inflicting the  Ahmedabad crash that killed 260 individuals in June.

What has the inspection discovered?

An airline official stated, “Over the weekend, our Engineering staff initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of Gas Management Swap (FCS) on all our Boeing 787 plane. The inspections have been accomplished and no points have been discovered.”

The official additionally highlighted that each one Boeing 787-8 plane within the fleet are geared up with the Throttle Management Module (TCM), which was changed beneath Boeing’s upkeep schedule, and the FCS was a part of this module.

Gas management switches handle the gas stream to an plane’s engines. In line with the AAIB’s preliminary investigation report launched on Saturday, gas provide to each engines was shut off inside a second of one another, resulting in confusion within the cockpit shortly after takeoff.

One engine failure monthly

Proper to Info (RTI) information accessed by TOI reveals Indian flights underwent 65 in-flight engine shutdowns since 2020, whereas pilots made 11 “mayday” misery calls within the final 17 months.

The RTA question answered by the Directorate Common of Civil Aviation (DGCA) says, “A complete of 65 incidents associated to in-flight shutdown of engines from 2020 to 2025 (until date) have been reported throughout India.”

In all 65 circumstances, pilots efficiently guided their plane to the closest airport utilizing a single functioning engine. Consultants hyperlink the engine shutdowns to numerous technical points, together with low gas, turbine malfunctions, and defective digital parts.