Minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), as part of the continued airworthiness exercise, had directed original equipment manufacturer (OEM)-level testing of the fuel control switch locking mechanism at Boeing’s facility in Seattle.
“Detailed examination of Fuel Control Switch, including structural integrity of Fuel Control Switch detents, was carried out and no abnormality was observed,” the minister said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha Monday. “However, further inspection of the complete ‘Thrust Control Module’ at the OEM facility is underway.”
Air India pilots after the London-Bengaluru flight had reported that switches–which control the flow of fuel to the Dreamliner’s left engine failed to stay in the ‘run’ position and moved to ‘cut off’–the same mechanism at the centre of an ongoing probe into an Air India 787 crash in June 2025 which killed 260 people.
A preliminary report published last year indicated the crash was the result of human action, without explicitly saying so. It found that seconds after take-off, the fuel control switches on both engines briefly moved from ‘run’ to ‘cut off’, severing fuel supply and causing an immediate loss of power. These switches control fuel flow to the engines.
The fuel cut-off switches in a modern aircraft like the Boeing 787 are located below the thrust lever and have safeguards like metal lock and a guard built around them to avoid any accidental switching off. Such safeguards were built by manufacturers after multiple incidents of unintentional fuel shutoff on older generation planes.
DGCA said incorrect handling of the switch by Air India pilots caused it to move from ‘run’ to ‘cut-off’. It has asked the carrier to circulate Boeing’s recommended procedure for operating the switch to its flight crew.