An Air India-operated Boeing 787 Dreamliner was forced to alter its original route after encountering serious technical difficulties that affected both its autopilot and essential flight control systems. The situation prompted an immediate response from the nation’s pilot community, which has urged aviation regulators to conduct a more detailed and comprehensive inspection of the 787 fleet to ensure that similar malfunctions do not recur in future operations.
According to reports, Flight 154 departed from Vienna around 9 p.m. local time on October 9, embarking on what was expected to be an approximately eight-hour journey to New Delhi. Midway through the flight, however, the cockpit crew—faced with persistent operational anomalies—made the critical decision to divert the aircraft toward Dubai, opting for safety and closer access to appropriate maintenance facilities. This decisive change in course demonstrated prudent airmanship under technically stressful conditions.
The following day, Captain C.S. Randhawa, who serves as president of the Federation of Indian Pilots, addressed a detailed letter to the country’s Minister for Civil Aviation. In that correspondence, Randhawa articulated significant apprehension about the gravity of the malfunction. He described how the aircraft experienced severe technical complications when the autopilot system abruptly disengaged, setting off a chain reaction of related failures. Among the affected systems was the Instrument Landing System (ILS)—a crucial tool that allows aircraft to approach runways safely in conditions of poor visibility, heavy weather, or during night operations. The malfunction of this system rendered automated approach functions unreliable, placing additional manual workload on the crew.
In his statement, Randhawa further noted that the flight control systems themselves were not functioning as they normally should, compounding the challenge faced by the pilots. Despite these multilayered difficulties, the crew demonstrated exceptional professionalism and composure, safely navigating the aircraft to Dubai using primarily manual controls and limited automated assistance. The pilots were commended for maintaining passenger safety through adept handling of a complex and stressful scenario that took place during nighttime flight conditions.
When contacted for comments, Boeing refrained from publicly discussing the incident, instead referring inquiries to Air India. The airline, in turn, provided only a brief statement to *The New Indian Express*, explaining that the diversion had been necessitated by a “technical issue.” According to flight-tracking data from Flightradar24, the affected Boeing 787 remained on the ground in Dubai for roughly three and a half hours before departing once again and continuing on to New Delhi. The aircraft ultimately arrived at its destination approximately four hours later than its original schedule, highlighting the operational disruption caused by the event.
The occurrence took place barely five days after a separate Air India 787 encountered a different, though equally concerning, in-flight anomaly. In that earlier case, the ram air turbine (RAT)—a backup emergency system that automatically deploys to supply power if both engines fail or if the aircraft’s hydraulic pressure drops to a critically low level—unexpectedly deployed during the aircraft’s approach to Birmingham, England. Air India later clarified that post-incident diagnostics showed all electrical and hydraulic parameters on that flight had remained within normal operating ranges, suggesting that the RAT deployment had been uncommanded and unexplained.
In the wake of these two closely spaced technical incidents, Randhawa’s communication to authorities included a request for decisive regulatory intervention. Specifically, he recommended that India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787s be temporarily grounded until detailed examinations of their electrical systems could verify operational integrity. According to a Reuters report published the following Monday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s air safety regulator, instructed Air India to reinspect the RAT components on some of its aircraft and sought a detailed technical report from Boeing regarding potential systemic issues.
This new wave of scrutiny has added to ongoing investigations into the safety record of the Boeing 787 within Air India’s operations. The model had already been under intensified regulatory observation following the catastrophic crash of Air India Flight 171 earlier in the year—a tragedy that occurred under different circumstances. Preliminary findings from the Flight 171 investigation revealed that its ram air turbine had deployed after fuel supply to both engines was abruptly cut off moments after takeoff. Investigators have primarily explored pilot actions as a potential factor, noting that fuel-cutoff switches are designed with built-in safeguards to prevent unintentional activation. The final report into that disaster is still pending, and analysts believe it could take more than a year before conclusive results are published.
Collectively, these successive events underline the urgent importance of continuous technical evaluation and robust safety oversight in modern aviation. They also reaffirm the essential role of both pilots and regulators in maintaining public confidence in aircraft reliability, particularly when dealing with technologically sophisticated airliners such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/air-india-boeing-787-diverted-dubai-flight-controls-malfunctioned-2025-10
