Air India Grounds Boeing 787 Dreamliner Over Alarming Issue With Fuel Cut Off Switch

Air India has grounded one of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners after a pilot reported that the fuel cut-off switch slipped twice from the ‘run’ position to the ‘cutoff’ as the plane was preparing to depart from London Heathrow Airport on Sunday night.

The issue raises fresh questions about the role that the fuel cut-off switches played in the first fatal crash of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which involved an Air India jet, just moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025.

Pilots report fuel cut-off switch wouldn’t stay in ‘run’ position

Air India has confirmed that it has grounded one of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners after a pilot reported that the fuel cut-off switch would not stay in the ‘run’ position, which means that fuel is being supplied to the engine.

Indian broadcaster NDTV obtained a photo of the aircraft’s technical logbook in which the pilot wrote:

"Left fuel control switch slips from run to cut off when pushed down slightly.  It does not lock in its position."

The aircraft is a 9-year-old Boeing 787-8 (registration: VT-ANX), which was delivered new to Air India in 2017. Despite the technical hitch, the plane still departed London Heathrow just half an hour late on February 1, arriving in Bengaluru ahead of schedule.

Once safely on the ground in Bengaluru, however, Air India promptly took the aircraft out of service and informed both Boeing and India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

The issue with the left fuel cut-off switch apparently occurred during the engine start-up phase and was not repeated at any point that the plane was airborne.

Boeing and aviation regulators probe incident

“We are aware that one of our pilots has reported a possible defect on the fuel control switch of a Boeing 787-8 aircraft,” the airline said in a statement.

“After receiving this initial information, we have grounded the said aircraft and are involving the OEM [Original Equipment Manufacturer] to get the pilot’s concerns checked on a priority basis,” the statement continued.

Boeing says it has already been in touch with Air India and is “supporting their review of this matter.”

Meanwhile, the DGCA has also confirmed that it plans to probe the circumstances behind Sunday night’s incident.

How do the fuel cut-off switches work?

There are two cut-off switches on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner located in the center console between the two pilots. The left switch corresponds to the left-hand engine, and the right switch corresponds to the right-hand engine. Each switch has two settings: RUN and CUTOFF.

To start the engines, the switches are moved to RUN and only moved back to CUTOFF when the engine is turned off (which nearly only ever happens once the plane is safely back on the ground).

In order to prevent the switches from being accidentally moved from RUN to CUT-OFF in-flight, Boeing developed a mechanism that is used on many of its aircraft.

To move the switch, the pilot first has to lift it up and then move it over an internal gate, before releasing the switch and allowing it to lock into the chosen position.

Accidentally knocking the switch won’t move it, because you have to physically lift the switch and simultaneously move it to the other position.

Airlines ordered checks of switches following fatal crash

In the wake of the fatal crash of Air India flight AI-171 on June 12, 2025, accident investigators discovered that both fuel cut-off switches on the plane had seemingly been moved from RUN to CUT-OFF just moments after takeoff.

The pilots quickly moved the switches back to the RUN position, but by this point, it was already too late. The engines had lost too much power, and the plane plummeted into a building at the end of the runway in Ahmenehad.

Several major international carriers, including Persian Gulf airline Etihad, ordered checks of the fuel cut-off switches on their Boeing 787 Dreamliners, although no defects were ever discovered.

Accident investigators are still trying to get to the bottom of why the fuel cut-off switches were moved on AI-171, with one line of enquiry being that one of the pilots deliberately cut the fuel supply off.