(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Indian pilots' body FIP, on Friday, wrote to the Minister of Civil Aviation, calling for the grounding of all Boeing 787 aircraft operated by Air India following a series of serious technical malfunctions linked to electrical system failures and a special DGCA audit of Air India aircraft for maintenance.

In a letter dated October 10, FIP President Captain C S Randhawa cited two major incidents within a week - involving flight AI-117 from Amritsar to Birmingham and AI-154 from Vienna to Delhi - stating that the“incidents of electrical malfunctions in a short span of time are indicators of poor serviceability by Air India.”

Air India, however, has denied any assertion that there was an electrical failure in the AI 154 aircraft.

What happened on the Air India flights?

Last week, an Air India Amritsar-Birmingham flight was grounded in UK after emergency turbine (RAT) was deployed during landing

The RAT or Ram Air Turbine is a small propeller-like device, designed to automatically deploy only in extreme emergencies such as a dual engine failure or total power loss.

Days after the issue with the Amritsar-Birmingham flight, another Air India aircraft flying from Vienna landed in Dubai instead of Delhi after encountering a technical snag.

Both the flights were Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

Referring to the incidents, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FPI) in its letter to the aviation ministry – warned that such repeated failures, especially after the deadly Ahmedabad plane crash – indicate deeper issues in the aircraft's electrical systems and maintenance practices.

What the FPI's letter said

The letter alleged that the problems have increased since Air India shifted maintenance responsibilities from AIESL (Air India Engineering Services Ltd.) to newly hired engineers.

FIP's letter

Besides urging for a thorough investigation of both the AI-117 and AI-154 incidents, the FPI recommended grounding all Air India Boeing 787 aircraft until comprehensive checks of the electrical systems are completed.

"The safety of air travel is being compromised by not investigating the causes of failures on B-787s in the country," the letter emphasised.

What Air India said

Air India on Friday said conclusions from its preliminary investigations show that the RAT deployment in its Dreamliner aircraft on October 4 was "neither due to a system fault nor pilot action".

“Based on the conclusions from our preliminary investigations, the deployment of the RAT was neither due to a system fault nor pilot action. The deployment of the RAT was 'uncommanded', consistent with similar occurrences with other airlines in the past, as reported by Boeing,” the airline said in its statement.

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