Investigators suspect that following the replacement, some of the nuts were insufficiently tightened, triggering fuel leakage and fire.
Last week, an Airbus A320 aircraft on a scheduled flight from Bengaluru to Delhi, with 160 passengers on board declared Mayday, and made an emergency landing at Delhi airport.
The pilots had received a fire indication from one of the engines, which was confirmed as true. The civil aviation regulator is yet to conclude its probe, but the preliminary findings have raised alarm on whether there have been similar instances where such lapses have occurred.
As a precaution, DGCA has asked Air India to carry out checks on all planes whose nozzles were replaced. “When fuel leaks into hot engine components, it will automatically cause fire,” said an aircraft maintenance engineer. A senior executive at Air India Engineering Services accepted improper workmanship as the likely factor for the fire but insisted that technicians from either the third party firm or those retired are qualified enough for the work. -Arindam Majumder