Safety push: Comprehensive analysis of Boeing 787 power systems urged following Air India incident
Following the Air India Flight AI‑171 tragedy, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has launched a safety campaign demanding a complete forensic analysis of the Boeing 787's power‑generation and distribution infrastructure.
The pilots' body highlighted that the 787's "more electric" design places the aircraft’s electrical and avionics subsystems at the heart of safe operations. Any failure in power generation, distribution, monitoring or data exchange can have cascading effects.
FIP referenced prior communications with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA and the AAIB that raised concerns about recurring electrical glitches across the 787 fleet, including a possible correlation with the June 2025 VT‑ANB incident.
The union also called for a re‑examination of technical material supplied by the Foundation for Aviation Safety, which compiles the aircraft’s operational history, maintenance trends, repeat system failures and warning indicators.
According to FIP, the AAIB has acknowledged receipt of these documents and plans to enlist a UK‑based expert to evaluate the data.
The federation argues that a holistic review—covering power‑production units, distribution lines, integrated modular avionics, flight‑management computers, flight‑control computers, battery systems, power‑control units and the aircraft’s data network—will uncover hidden failure patterns.
In addition, FIP requests a deep dive into the aircraft’s maintenance records: technical log entries, deferred defect lists, recurring fault reports, diagnostic trails, component replacements, reliability monitoring data and engineering modifications made during its service life.
The union stresses that investigators should cross‑reference flight‑data recorder outputs with the Aircraft Health Monitoring System, ACARS transmissions, maintenance databases, built‑in test equipment reports and the manufacturer’s service logs to construct a complete picture of the accident’s causes.