Air India Crash: Boeing Dreamliner Fleet Gets Extra Safety Checks

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Fleet to Get More Tests

After a sad crash of an Air India flight going to London from Ahmedabad on Thursday, all Boeing 787-8/9 Dreamliner planes of Air India will get extra safety checks.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) says all Boeing Dreamliner 787/9 planes of Air India with Genx engines will get more maintenance and safety checks right away. These checks will work with the local DGCA offices.

The DGCA tells Air India to do these things:

• Do a one-time check before each flight leaves India starting from June 15, 2025, at 00:00 hours:
  • Check the Fuel Parameter Monitoring and related systems.
  • Look at the Cabin air compressor and related systems.
  • Test the Electronic Engine Control system.
  • Check the Engine Fuel Driven Actuator and its oil system.
  • Make sure the Hydraulic system works well.
  • Look at the Take-off settings.
• Add a ‘Flight Control Inspection’ to transit checks until told otherwise.
• Do power assurance checks in two weeks.
• Fix maintenance issues found in the last 15 days on 787-8/9 planes as soon as possible.

Air India must tell the DGCA about these checks.

What Happened in the Incident

The Air India 787-8 Dreamliner, flight AI 171 from Ahmedabad to London, crashed soon after takeoff. The 11-year-old plane only reached 425 feet before it fell into a medical college. This caused 245 deaths, including 242 passengers and crew, and some people on the ground. A 34-second video shows the whole incident.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah went to Ahmedabad after the incident. He said the big fire from 1.25 lakh litres of jet fuel made it impossible for anyone to survive.

History of Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The incident in Ahmedabad on Thursday is the first accident with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner since it started flying commercially in 2011. Even though it is one of the most reliable planes in the world, it has had some problems.

In January 2013, the US aviation authority stopped Dreamliner flights after two separate incidents in Japan: a battery fire in a parked plane and a battery problem that made another plane land in an emergency. Flights started again in April 2013 after Boeing fixed the battery system.

Flight data firm Cirium says there are 1,148 Boeing 787 planes flying worldwide right now. Their average age is 7.5 years. Air India had 34 787s before the loss of AI 171.