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Fervent Plea : Federation of Indian Pilots Urges DGCA To Check , Investigate The Electrical Systems In All Boeing 787 Aircrafts
The pilots’ body wrote a letter to the DGCA a day after a Boeing 787 plane operated by Air India from Amritsar to Birmingham saw deployment of emergency turbine power when it was about to land in the UK city.
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The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) have urged aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to thoroughly check and investigate the electrical system of all Boeing 787 aircraft in the country.
As per media reports, The pilots’ body wrote a letter to the DGCA a day after a Boeing 787 plane operated by Air India from Amritsar to Birmingham saw deployment of emergency turbine power when it was about to land in the UK city.
According to Air India, the operating crew of its Amritsar-Birmingham flight reported that the Boeing 787’s Ram Air Turbine (RAT) unexpectedly deployed during the final approach on October 4, but the aircraft landed safely.
In the Air India aircraft incident, the Aircraft Health Monitoring (AHM) picked up a fault of Bus Power Control Unit (BPCU), which may have caused the auto deployment of RAT, FIP President G S Randhawa said in the letter to DGCA.
“The (Birmingham flight) incident occurred when the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) deployed automatically at 500 ft on approach into Birmingham… the Aircraft Health Monitoring (AHM) has picked up a fault of the Bus Power Control Unit (BPCU) which may have caused the auto deployment of RAT,” the pilots’ body, which claims to represent over 5000 cockpit crew members, said in the letter.
BPCU manages an aircraft’s electrical power system. RAT deploys automatically in the eventuality of a dual engine failure or total electronic or hydraulic failure.
It uses wind speed to generate emergency power. Engine or hydraulic/electrical failure or software malfunction are being cited as among the several probable causes of the Air India Boeing 787 plane crash in June this year.
“There have been numerous incidents on B-787 aircraft. We have strongly taken up with the Civil Aviation Ministry and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) to thoroughly check the electrical system of all B-787 aircraft in the country.