Etihad asks pilots to exercise caution with fuel control switches on Boeing 787s

Besides ordering pilots to tread carefully with the switches, Etihad Airways has also ordered an investigation into how the fuel control switches operate.

A day after the preliminary report published by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau found that fuel control switches were moved to “cut-off” position as the aircraft rose from take-off, in the fateful Air India flight AI171 tragedy that claimed more than 25o lives, The Etihad Airways has ordered their pilots to "exercise caution" with fuel switches on the Boeing 787 aircraft, The Hindu reported on Monday.

Besides ordering pilots to tread carefully with the switches, Etihad Airways has also ordered an investigation into how the fuel control switches operate.

South Korea is also planning a similar move for its airlines operating Boeing aircraft, news agency Reuters reported. The country is preparing to order all its airlines that operate Boeing planes to examine the fuel control switches.

According to The Hindu, Etihad released a bulletin on July 12, the day the Air India plane crash's probe report released, asking pilots to “exercise caution when operating the fuel control switches or any other switches/control in their vicinity”.

Immediately after the preliminary findings, Boeing has defended the safety of its fuel switch design following concerns raised in the preliminary report into last month’s Air India Boeing 787-8 crash, which killed 260 people shortly after takeoff.

The report raised more questions than it answered, with the pilots’ association rejecting claims of pilot error, and grieving families of the victims saying they are “not satisfied” with the findings. Of the 242 people onboard flight AI171 to London Gatwick on 12 June, 241 were killed, including 53 British nationals. The flight crashed into a hostel complex at Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College in Ahmedabad, also killing several students and residents on the ground. Only one passenger – a British-Indian man seated in 11A – survived.