Despite inspections by India’s aviation regulator and Air India finding no fault with the aircraft, Britain’s aviation authority has asked the airline to explain how a Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger jet departed London with a potentially faulty fuel control switch.
In a letter dated Tuesday, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) sought a detailed explanation from Air India over the London–India flight and warned that regulatory action could follow if the airline does not submit a complete response within a week. The aircraft was grounded after landing in India for safety checks following a pilot report of a potential defect.
Air India said it had completed a precautionary re-inspection of the fuel switches and found no issues, adding that it would “respond to the UK regulator accordingly”. The CAA said it was following standard procedure, noting that seeking details after “an aircraft incident” is in line with safety assurance processes.
Incident revives focus on fuel switch safety
Fuel control switches, which regulate the flow of jet fuel to an aircraft’s engines, have been under intense scrutiny since last year’s fatal Air India Dreamliner crash in Gujarat that killed 260 people. That incident led to tighter oversight of the airline and its fleet by domestic and international regulators.
According to India’s civil aviation watchdog, the flight crew observed during engine start in London that the fuel control switch did not remain latched in the ‘run’ position on two occasions, before stabilising on a third attempt. The crew then decided to operate the flight to India. Subsequent checks by the regulator reportedly found the switches to be functioning normally.
UK regulator seeks detailed explanation
Despite those findings, the UK CAA has asked Air India to provide “a detailed account of all maintenance actions performed to ensure the continued airworthiness of the aircraft and to support its release to service for” Bengaluru. The watchdog has also sought a “comprehensive root-cause analysis” of the incident and a “preventive action plan” to avoid a recurrence across the airline’s Boeing 787 fleet.
Air India said on Monday that it had grounded the Dreamliner after a pilot reported a possible “defect” on landing. Boeing, which had earlier said it was cooperating with the airline, did not respond to requests for comment.
In an internal memo circulated on Wednesday, Air India said it had inspected fuel control switches across all its Boeing 787 aircraft. The airline operates 33 Dreamliners, according to flight-tracking data, and said “no issues were found” during the fleet-wide checks.