DGCA orders Air India to carry out more checks on Boeing 787 fleet after tragic plane crash

New Delhi, June 13 (IANS) The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Friday ordered enhanced safety inspection of Air India’s Boeing 787-8/9 fleet, following the devastating crash of the Tata Group airline’s London-bound flight, within seconds of take-off from the Ahmedabad airport, in which 241 people were killed on Thursday. 

As a preventive measure, the DGCA has directed Air India to carry out additional maintenance actions on 8787-8/9 aircraft equipped with Genx engines with immediate effect in coordination with the regional offices concerned of the DGCA.

These include a one-time check before departure of flight from India with effect from June 15 onwards, inspection of fuel parameter monitoring and associated system checks, as well as inspection of cabin air compressor and associated systems.

Air India also has to carry out an electronic engine control system test, an engine fuel-driven actuator-operational test, and an oil system check.

Besides, the airline has to carry out a serviceability check of the aircraft hydraulic system, review of take-off parameters, and introduce 'Flight Control Inspection' in transit inspection till further notice.

Air India also has to undertake power assurance checks within two weeks and closure of maintenance action based upon the review of repetitive snags during the last 15 days on 8787-8/9 aircraft at the earliest.

The report of these above checks has to be submitted to the DGCA for review, the order further states.

The black box of Air India’s ill-fated Flight AI171 has been recovered, and investigations have begun to find out the cause of the crash. Meanwhile, experienced pilots are of the view that it could have been a twin-engine failure of the Boeing Dreamliner, which could be due to a bird hit or contaminated fuel or blockage of fuel or a combination of these factors.

Indian investigators will be joined by experts from the US and UK in the coming days to carry out the probe.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was flown by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had over 8,000 hours of flying and his co-pilot Clive Kunder, who had over 1,000 hours of experience. Immediately after take-off, the pilots gave a Mayday call, after which there was no communication from the pilots, and the plane came crashing to the ground, hitting a medical college building as it went up in flames.

Picture Courtesy: IANS