CLIP ITS WINGS

Pilots Demand Boeing Planes Be Grounded After Emergency System Unexpectedly Activated

Pilots have called for an emergency investigation into the fleet.

Pilots have demanded that all Air India Boeing 787s be grounded and inspected for electrical issues after one of the planes unexpectedly deployed its emergency power system. The ram air turbine, commonly referred to as the RAT, is a propeller-driven device that deploys from the aircraft’s fuselage to provide emergency power and hydraulic pressure, typically only in severe failure scenarios. But a flight from Delhi to Birmingham, England, on Saturday, saw it mysteriously deploy, despite the plane having passed all electrical and hydraulic checks. “I have never heard of the RAT being deployed automatically without any hydraulic loss, power loss, or failures,” said Capt. Charanvir Randhawa, president of the Federation of Indian Pilots. In June, Air India 787 Flight 171, from Ahmenebad to London, crashed 30 seconds after takeoff and killed 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 more people on the ground. A preliminary report has confirmed the RAT activated when power was lost, but investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the crash. Air India operates 34 Boeing 787s in its fleet.