India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has instructed all airlines in the country to inspect the fuel control switches on their Boeing aircraft.
This decision comes after a tragic crash involving an Air India flight in June that resulted in the death of 260 people. The British news outlet BBC reported this development on Monday (July 14).
According to India’s aviation authorities, some domestic and international airlines have already begun conducting the inspections voluntarily.
Previously, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated that the fuel switches on Boeing planes are safe. However, the preliminary investigation into the recent crash in India revealed that fuel supply to the aircraft’s engines was cut off shortly after takeoff.
The incident occurred on Air India Flight 171, bound for London. The aircraft was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and is considered one of the most devastating aviation accidents globally in the past decade.
The DGCA has ordered that fuel switch inspections on all Boeing aircraft must be completed by July 21. They stated, “Completing this task within the specified time is crucial to ensuring flight safety.”
This directive follows an FAA advisory issued in 2018, which recommended that Boeing operators inspect the locking mechanism of the fuel switches to ensure they cannot be accidentally activated. However, this recommendation was not mandatory.
Air India had not carried out the inspection since it was not compulsory, according to India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Now, the DGCA has made the inspection mandatory and instructed all airlines to submit reports.
At the same time, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) stated that the pilots performed their duties according to their training and that blaming them based on assumptions is inappropriate.
Preliminary investigations reveal that in the cockpit voice recording of Flight 171, one pilot is heard asking, “Why did you turn off the switch?” to which the other responds, “I didn’t.”
The report clarified that the purpose is not to assign blame but to investigate the root cause of the incident. News agency Reuters reported that South Korea is also preparing to issue a similar directive to airlines operating Boeing aircraft to inspect their fuel switches.
