Overview
- India’s aviation regulator said Tuesday it will send officials to Boeing’s Seattle site to observe lab testing of a 787 fuel-control switch panel removed from an Air India jet.
- The switch drew scrutiny after a February engine start in London when it slipped from RUN to CUTOFF under light pressure and latched only on a third attempt, after which the aircraft was grounded in Bengaluru.
- Both Boeing and the DGCA later said the module was serviceable and Air India’s fleet-wide checks found no defects, yet regulators ordered controlled testing to verify the lock mechanism under applied force in specific angles.
- Fuel-control switches meter fuel to each engine and use a pull-and-lock action to prevent unintended movement, and a shift to CUTOFF stops fuel flow and can shut an engine down.
- The tests follow the June 2025 Air India crash in which both switches transitioned to CUTOFF almost at once, with the FAA saying it did not initially see a mechanical cause and India’s final report due next month.