NEW DELHI: Air India grounded a Boeing 787 aircraft on Monday after a pilot reported a “possible defect” in its fuel control switch, the airline said, a similar issue to that involved in a deadly crash last year.
“We are aware that one of our pilots has reported a possible defect on the fuel control switch of a Boeing 787-8 aircraft,” an Air India spokesperson said in a statement. “We have grounded the aircraft and are involving the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) to examine the pilot’s concerns on a priority basis,” the spokesperson said.
Air India did not specify where the aircraft was grounded. Some Indian media reports said it had been scheduled to fly from London to the city of Bengaluru in India’s south.
A London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad in June last year, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground.