A professional pilots association in India is calling on regulators to inspect every Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the country after one of the airplanes unexpectedly activated an emergency power system over the weekend.
In a message to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and other government aviation bodies, the Federation of Indian Pilots said the aircraft should be grounded and their electrical systems checked for possible problems. The plea came one day after an emergency backup generator known as a ram air turbine (RAT) was triggered on an Air India 787 flying from Amritsar in northern India to Birmingham in the U.K.
The ram air turbine is meant to kick in when the aircraft’s engines lose power, among other factors, but Air India said this did not happen, and “all electrical and hydraulic parameters were found normal,” according to the BBC.
The flight landed safely in Birmingham. The return flight to India was canceled, and the aircraft involved has been temporarily removed from service.
Notably, the RAT was activated on the Air India 787 that crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, India, in June. The aircraft lost altitude and hit the campus of a medical college, killing a total of 260 people on board and on the ground. One passenger survived.
Authorities in India are investigating the cause of the crash with assistance from experts from the U.S. and U.K. According to their preliminary findings, a cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot asking the other why he had cut off power to the engines, and the other pilot replying that he had not.
The Indian government ordered inspections of all 787s in the aftermath. No problems were found, and the airplanes returned to service.
The DGCA said it has launched an investigation of the Amritsar-Birmingham flight but has so far not ordered another round of inspections for all 787s in the country.
