Air India has initiated inspections of fuel control switches on its 33 Boeing 787 aircraft after grounding a flight due to a possible defect, according to an internal company note reviewed by AFP on Tuesday.
The checks came as Indian authorities were probing the crash last year of a 787 Dreamliner that killed 260 people shortly after takeoff, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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News of the inspection followed Air India’s grounding Monday of a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner jet after one of its pilots reported a possible defect in the fuel control switch.
“Following the reported defect… Engineering has escalated the matter to Boeing for priority evaluation,” the note said.
In a statement to AFP, Boeing said: “We are in contact with Air India and are supporting their review of this matter.”
The airline, owned by the Tata Group conglomerate, said it had also launched a precautionary fleet-wide re-inspection of the switch latch.
A source close to the company told AFP that fresh inspection of several planes had been completed already, with no adverse findings yet.
A London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad in June, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground.
