NEW DELHI: Air India has completed running checks on the locking mechanism of “fuel control switch” (FCS) on all its Boeing 787 aircraft and found nothing wrong with them. “All our Boeing 787-8 aircraft have also undergone throttle control module (TCM) replacement as per the Boeing maintenance schedule. The FCS is part of this module,” the airline told pilots late Wednesday. AI now has 33 Dreamliners.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had directed Indian operators to check the FCS on certain Boeing aircraft, including some models of the B737s and all B787 Dreamliners. “Over the weekend, our engineering team initiated precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of FCS on all our Boeing 787 aircraft. The inspections have been completed and no issues were found. With this, Air India has complied with the directives of the DGCA issued on Monday (July 14),” the airline told pilots, adding, “Please continue to remain vigilant and report any defect in the technical Log, as per the existing reporting process. (A certain) tool is also available, should there be any concerns identified during operations.”
The AAIB prelim report into the crash of AI 171 has been drawing fire for propounding a “suicide theory” which pilots strongly dispute.

They have appealed to not drawing any hasty conclusions from the AAIB prelim report.“A Dreamliner with a Japanese airline recently suffered twin engine failure post landing without the pilots changing the position of FSC from run to cutoff. Twin engine failure can happen due to any reason and the FCS switch can toggle without human intervention too. For the AAIB to word its report in a manner that casts aspersions on the two pilots who are not there to defend themselves is reprehensible,” say multiple pilots.