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The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has written to the Civil Aviation Ministry demanding that all Boeing 787 aircraft, which are under constant scrutiny in the wake of the rising number of flights being affected due to technical glitches in recent months, be grounded. The pilots’ body has listed out three key demands to the government in order to streamline the operation of flights with the 787 engines.

The FIP has cited the “continuous electrical problems and a special DGCA audit for Air India aircraft for maintennace”.

This comes days after the FIP wrote to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), urging the aviation safety regulator to conduct a comprehensive inspection and investigation of the electrical systems of all Boeing 787 aircraft operating in India.

On October 4, an Air India Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft operating from Amritsar to Birmingham was grounded in the UK after its emergency turbine, the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), deployed mid-descent. The incident occurred on flight AI117, which was on its final approach to Birmingham.

On October 9, another Air India flight from Austria’s Vienna to New Delhi was diverted to Dubai due to a possible technical snag. After a brief stoppage for necessary checks, the flight took off at 8:45 am IST from Dubai Airport en route to New Delhi.

In its letter to the government, the FIP referred to both these incidents, saying, “they had major technical issues where the autopilot system suddenly failed triggering a series of technical malfunctions. 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’ body also brought to the government’s attention the June 12 crash of Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, in Ahmedabad, which claimed the lives of 260 people, saying that the safety of air travel is being compromised by not investigating the causes of failures on B-787’s in the country.

“We once again appeal to the Hon’ble Minister to now ground all the B-787’s of Air India and these aircraft 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,” it added.

– Ends