The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has ordered enhanced safety inspections for Air Indias’ fleet of Boeing 787 planes after the Ahmedabad crash. In an order issued on Friday, DGCA said that as a preventive measure, Air India has been directed to carryout several additional maintenance actions on B787-8/9 aircrafts equipped with GEnx engines.
Air India is to carry out the additional maintenance with immediate effect in coordination with the concerned regional DGCA offices.
The additional inspections include several one time check before departure from 15th June onwards. These checks are as follows:
a) Inspection of Fuel Parameter Monitoring and associated system checks.
b) Inspection of Cabin air compressor and associated systems.
c) Electronic Engine Control- System Test.
d) Engine Fuel Driven Actuator-Operational Test and oil system check.
e) Serviceability check of Hydraulic system.
f) Review of Take-off parameters.
DGCA further added that ‘Flight Control Inspection’ to be introduced in transit inspection till further notice, and power assurance checks to be carried out within two weeks.
The last instruction said, “Closure of maintenance action based upon the review of repetitive snags during the last 15 days on B787-8/9 aircraft at the earliest.”
Air India has also been asked to submit the report of the additional checks for review.
Earlier, some reports had speculated that Indian govt will ground the Boeing 787 fleet following the tragic crash, as the most likely cause is technical failure, most probably engine failure. The plane took off normally, but after stating to climb, it was unable to move up after reaching around 400-500 feet, and it then crashed onto the ground.
