Oman Air Enhances Fuel Switch Checks on Boeing Fleet
Confirming this in an exclusive interview with Times of Oman, Captain Nasser Al Salmi, Chief Operating Officer of Oman Air, said, 'In line with regulatory guidance, we have conducted extra fuel switch checks on all of our Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft as a precautionary measure and as part of our ongoing commitment to the highest safety standards.'
Oman Air has eight Boeing 787 aircraft and 23 Boeing 737 aircraft.
While Boeing and the United States Federal Aviation Administration have affirmed the safety of the fuel switch locks, several airlines – including Oman Air, Etihad and Singapore Airlines – have opted to take additional precautionary steps in the interest of operational assurance and safety continuity.
India's civil aviation regulator has issued a directive for airlines to conduct precautionary inspections of the fuel switch locking mechanisms on all Boeing 787 and 737 aircraft by July 21. This directive comes in the wake of a recent technical review and supports the industry's focus on continuous safety enhancement.
On Monday, Etihad, the second-largest airline in the United Arab Emirates, urged all its pilots to check the fuel switches on 787 aircraft in its fleet.
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's (AAIB) preliminary report, released in the early hours of Saturday, said the fuel control switches were found in the 'cutoff' position, triggering a global debate over whether pilot action or mechanical failure caused India's worst single-aircraft aviation disaster.
Fuel switches are crucial components in the heart of an aircraft's cockpit that control the flow of fuel to the engines. The twin-engine Boeing 787, which crashed in Ahmedabad, has one switch for each engine. The switches sit underneath the throttle handles in the cockpit's centre console, positioned where pilots' hands naturally rest during critical flight phases. Physical brackets guard each switch on both sides, making it impossible to accidentally brush against them. A spring-loaded mechanism requires pilots to pull each switch upward against resistance before it can be moved.
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