Did Air India fail to carry out 'advisory' inspections? Issues with Boeing fuel control switches were flagged by US watchdog in 2018

With AAIB preliminary report claiming that the fuel control switches were turned off, new details are coming out regarding the incident. It has now emerged that the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had flagged a potential issue with Boeing fuel control switches back in 2018.

However, Air India has informed the investigators that it did not carry out the inspection of the fuel control switches, saying they were "advisory" and not "mandatory".

In 2018, the US FAA issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) regarding the locking mechanism issues that could potentially affect the fuel control switches on Boeing planes. Some of the Boeing 737s had these switches installed with their locking features disengaged.

This meant that when the lock is disengaged, the switches could be turned off due to accidental touch or vibration. However, the FAA did not list the inspection of this problem as a mandatory directive and instead issued it as an advisory.

The preliminary probe report revealed that moments before the Ahmedabad crash, one pilot asked the other why the fuel to the engines were cut off. The other pilot can be heard saying he did not turn the switches off.

However, the investigators are yet to find out if the fuel control switches were turned off because of human intervention, mechanical issue or system glitch.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu urged the public to avoid conclusions until a final report is released by AAIB.

India