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The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice to its international counterparts that fuel control switches in Boeing aeroplanes like the Dreamliner involved in last month’s fatal Air India crash do not pose a safety issue.
The FAA’s notice to foreign civil aviation authorities followed a preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau that the engines on Air India Flight 171 briefly cut off shortly after take-off on June 12.
Switches controlling fuel flow to the jet’s two engines had been moved from “run” to the “cut-off” position, hampering the thrust of the plane, the AAIB report said.
The AAIB also pointed to a 2018 bulletin issued by the FAA regarding the design of the fuel control switches on various Boeing aeroplanes, including the Dreamliner 787 used in Flight 171.
The bulletin recommended that carriers operating Boeing models including the 787 inspect the locking mechanism of the fuel cut-off switches — a step not taken by Air India, according to the AAIB report.
In the cockpit voice recording from Flight 171, one of the pilots is heard asking the other “why did you cut off?” to which he responded “that he did not do so”, said the report.
The 2018 bulletin “was based on reports that the fuel control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged”, the FAA said in a notice dated Friday.
“Although the fuel control switch design, including the locking feature, is similar on various Boeing airplane models, the FAA does not consider this issue to be an unsafe condition that would warrant an airworthiness directive on any Boeing airplane models, including the Model 787,” the FAA notice continued.
“The FAA will continue to share relevant information with foreign civil aviation authorities as appropriate.”
Boeing referred a request for comment to the FAA, which did not comment beyond the notice. Reuters previously reported the contents of the notice.
Flight 171 had been scheduled to travel from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick airport. Two hundred and sixty people died when the plane crashed into a medical college near where it took off, marking the deadliest aeroplane accident in over a decade.
The AAIB has been investigating the crash in co-ordination with the US National Transportation Safety Board and the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch, with the FAA providing technical support.
Crash investigators were continuing to seek evidence and gather information, with no actions recommended to operators of Boeing Dreamliners or users of the GE Aerospace engines that powered Flight 171 at this time, the AAIB said.
