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Journalism of Courage
Following technical snags with two Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft in less than a week, pilots’ association Federation of Indian pilots (FIP) on Friday urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to ground all Air India Boeing 787 aircraft for a thorough check of their electrical systems, and to order a special audit of maintenance of Air India aircraft. The grouping made these demands in a letter to Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu. The FIP has been demanding an exhaustive check of the electrical systems of all Boeing 787-8 aircraft since one crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 260 people.
Friday’s letter from the association, which has around 5,500 pilots as members, follows Thursday’s incident involving an Air India Boeing 787-8—registered as VT-ANC—operating flight AI154 from Vienna to Delhi, which had to be diverted to Dubai due to a technical snag. On Saturday (October 4), another Air India Boeing 787-8—VT-ANO—operating flight AI117 from Amritsar to Birmingham had experienced an unexpected and uncommanded deployment of the ram air turbine (RAT)—a last-resort emergency power system that deploys during grave emergencies like total electrical failure or a debilitating hydraulic failure. An accidental automatic RAT deployment is an extremely unusual occurrence. That incident is being investigated by aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The FIP claimed that the snag with VT-ANC on Thursday involved a sudden failure of the plane’s autopilot system, which triggered a “series of technical malfunctions”, adding that the pilots could not engage the autopilot due to electrical malfunctions. Air India, while acknowledging that the aircraft had to be diverted to Dubai due to a technical issue, “categorically” denied that the aircraft suffered an electrical failure.
“The aircraft experienced failures across critical systems which included Autopilots, ILS (Instrument Landing System), Flight Directors (FDs) and Flight Control System Degradation with no Autoland capability. The pilots could not engage the autopilots due electrical malfunctions; thus, pilots were constrained to fly manually at night and divert to Dubai. Moreover, the FD’s were not available with degraded flight control systems,” the FIP wrote in its letter to Naidu.
“AI154 operating from Vienna to Delhi on 09 October was diverted to Dubai due to a technical issue. The aircraft landed safely at Dubai and underwent necessary checks. All passengers were kept informed of the delay, provided refreshments and the flight, operated by the same aircraft, departed Dubai at 08:45 hrs IST and landed in Delhi at 12:19 hrs IST. At Air India, the safety of passengers and crew remains top priority. Air India categorically denies any assertion that there was an electrical failure in the said aircraft,” an Air India spokesperson said.
According to a senior DGCA official, data from the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder will be downloaded in Delhi and examined. The aircraft was cruising at an altitude of 39,000 feet when the autopilot got disconnected, along with the failure of a few other systems, it is learnt.
In its letter to Naidu, the FIP said that following the tragic crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, a number of snags involving the airline’s Boeing 787 aircraft have been reported, and argued that air safety is being compromised by “not investigating the causes of failures” involving these planes.
“We once again appeal to the Hon’ble Minister to now ground all the B-787’s (Boeing 787 aircraft) of Air India and these aircrafts be thoroughly checked especially the Electrical Systems. DGCA to carry out a Special Audit of all B-787’s and these aircraft be checked thoroughly as the failures are increasing day by day thus, seriously affecting Air Safety. Two incidents of electrical malfunctions in a short span of time are indicators of poor serviceability by Air India,” the FIP said.
Saying that two incidents in a short span of time are indicators of poor maintenance by the airline, the pilot grouping alleged that the incidents have been on the rise since the time “newly hired” Air India engineers have been maintaining the aircraft, and the problems “were much less till the time government-owned AI Engineering Services (AIESL) was looking after maintenance of Air India aircraft. Before the privatisation of Air India, AIESL was its engineering arm. Even as AIESL continues to do aircraft maintenance for Air India, the airline is gradually moving aircraft maintenance services in-house.
“We once again humbly request the Hon’ble Minister for the following actions in the interest of Air Safety: a) To thoroughly investigate both the recent incidents of AI-117 and AI-154. b) To ground all Air India B-787 and they be thoroughly checked for its electrical systems and other repetitive snags. c) To order a Special Audit of Air India which should be conducted by the Senior Staff of FSD (Flight Standards Directorate), Air Safety and Airworthiness of DGCA. There is a need to check the MEL (minimum equipment list) releases and repetitive snags on the aircraft especially B-787’s,” the FIP wrote.
