Bengaluru pilots call for grounding of Boeing 787 aircraft over safety concerns
Bengaluru: Members of the pilot community in Bengaluru have raised serious safety concerns and called for the Air India Boeing 787-8 being grounded at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
On Monday, an Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating a flight from London’s Heathrow Airport to Bengaluru was grounded at KIA after one of the pilots detected an error with the aircraft’s fuel control switch during operations, The New Indian Express reported.
The fact that after the Ahmedabad tragedy, another Boeing 787-8 aircraft of Air India developing an issue with its fuel switch, forces one to think beyond coincidence.
“All 787s across the world should be grounded at once considering the safety of flyers. I will never fly on a 787 again,” said Captain Gurudath Kavalu, a former Air India pilot.
Another former pilot, Captain Arvind Sharma, said as a pilot, one can do little in this situation. “If you find an issue, you can bring it to the notice of the maintenance crew and speak with your operators. If maintenance personnel find no problem, there is little you can do. You will be treated as a whistleblower at the peril of your career,” he said.
On Tuesday, Air India issued a statement which implies that the incident is rooted in little more than a possible (yet consequential) design flaw. “Both left and right switches were checked and found satisfactory, with the locking tooth/pawl fully seated and not slipping from RUN to CUTOFF.
When full force was applied parallel to the base plate, the switch remained secure. However, applying external force in an incorrect direction caused the switch to move easily from RUN to CUTOFF, due to the angular base plate allowing slip when pressed improperly with finger or thumb (sic),” the airline said.
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AAP accuses Chadha of indulging in 'soft PR', dodging key issues in Parliament
New Delhi (PTI): The AAP on Friday hit back at party MP Raghav Chadha, accusing him of shying away from raising issues against the Centre in Parliament and instead engaging in "soft PR".
Delhi Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) President Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that Chadha failed to toe the party's line on several matters in Parliament and did not join opposition walkouts on key issues.
"We all are soldiers of Arvind Kejriwal, the Centre doesn't care about soft PR or talking about samosas at airport canteens when bigger issues are at stake," Bharadwaj said in a video posted on X.
"Whenever the Opposition staged a walkout in Parliament, you (Chadha) did not participate. You did not raise issues concerning Punjab, from where you are elected, and you hid in a foreign country when former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested," he added.
AAP national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda also criticised Chadha, questioning whether someone who "fears" Prime Minister Narendra Modi can fight for the country.
"In West Bengal, the right to vote is being snatched away. When a proposal against the CEC came up in the House, you (Chadha) refused to sign it," Dhanda said on X.
"In Parliament, we get limited time to speak, and it can be used either to fight for the nation or discuss trivial matters like cheaper samosas at airport canteens," Dhanda said, adding that Chadha has been hesitant to speak on "real issues" for the last few years.
The remarks came after Chadha earlier in the day said he was "silenced, not defeated", a day after being removed as the AAP's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha.
