NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked Air India to review relevant maintenance checks for all aircraft, and inspect Ram Air Turbine (RAT) stowage space on specific planes.
This follows a recent incident of uncommanded deployment of the emergency device (RAT) at a height of 400 feet during landing of the Amritsar-Birmingham Air India plane on October 4.
The issue involving a Boeing 787 aircraft has sparked major concern as the had got deployed before Air India flight AI171 crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12 this year, claiming 260 lives.
Elaborating on the action taken by the regulator, a source said, "Air India has been asked to review the work package of 'D' Check (one of the four key maintenance checks done) being carried out whenever the Power Conditioning Module (PCM) is changed." PCM supplies power to the digital systems which are responsible for activating the RAM.
Additionally, the DGCA has also asked Air India to reinspect the RAT stowage (the cabinet where the RAT is stored) in the case of aircraft whose PCM module has berc replaced recently.
Detailed report sought from Boeing
The regulator has asked the aircraft manufacturer Boeing for a comprehensive report outlining the preventive measures it was implementing in respect of the un-commanded RAT deployment on the Birmingham flight.
Boeing had released a Fleet Diges listing similar uncommanded RAT deployments after the incident. The DGCA sought detailed information on the same.
DGCA has also asked Boeing to submit "any service difficulty report received from aircraft operators worldwide after change in PCM module."
