Indian air safety officials are traveling to Seattle to personally monitor Boeing's testing of a Dreamliner fuel-control switch panel, according to internal documents. The panel was removed from an Air India 787 in London this past February after pilots reported that the switches—which regulate fuel flow to the engines—failed to remain locked in the "run" position during pre-flight checks.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has labeled the upcoming June laboratory testing as "sensitive." The scrutiny intensified because the incident occurred ahead of the one-year anniversary of a fatal Air India 787 crash in Gujarat that killed 260 people. The preliminary investigation into that disaster revealed that the plane's fuel switches had been shut off nearly simultaneously, starving the engines of fuel, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

While the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) previously suggested that the fatal crash was not caused by a mechanical failure—pointing instead to cockpit voice recordings that imply the captain may have cut the fuel flow—Indian officials are leaving nothing to chance. A government source noted that the DGCA wants to thoroughly evaluate the switch's locking mechanism to see if external pressure applied at specific angles could cause a malfunction.

Boeing and Air India both previously stated that the module involved in the London incident was found to be "fully functional" and "serviceable" during initial inspections. However, Air India confirmed that the deeper laboratory evaluation in Seattle is going forward out of an abundance of caution to ensure a conclusive safety evaluation.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada