New Delhi –— India’s aviation regulator has directed Air India to conduct inspections of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) emergency power systems on some of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft after a recent incident involving an unexpected deployment during flight. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also asked Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, to provide a detailed report outlining the incident and the preventive measures in place during RAT activation.
The directive follows an incident on an Air India 787 flying from Amritsar to Birmingham, where the crew detected the RAT’s deployment during the final approach to landing. RAT systems are designed to provide emergency power in case of complete engine failure, and unintended deployment is treated as a serious technical event. Both Boeing and Air India have not yet issued public statements in response to the regulator’s inquiry.
The order comes amid heightened scrutiny of RAT systems after a fatal Air India Boeing 787 crash in June, which killed 260 people. Indian investigators previously reported that the RAT had deployed during the aircraft’s initial climb, raising safety concerns about potential systemic faults. The DGCA’s latest instructions underscore its push for proactive safety inspections and enhanced manufacturer oversight to prevent similar incidents in the future.