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“Potential Risk”: The DGCA warns airlines about a problem with the Rudder System in Boeing 737 planes

Rekha Prajapati October 07, 2024 07:27 PM

On Monday, the DGCA, the aviation regulator, warned Indian companies that use Boeing 737 planes about the risk of a rudder control system getting stuck.

The move comes after the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a study that raised safety issues about Boeing 737 lanes that are equipped with Collins Aerospace SVO-730 Rudder Rollout Guidance Actuators.

Because of the chance of a rudder control system getting stuck or limited, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has told Indian airlines how to improve safety.

At the moment, Boeing 737 planes are used by Air India Express, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet. DGCA said that all flight crews should be told about the chance of a rudder control system that is jammed or limited through a letter or warning.

“Correct mitigations must be communicated to help crews find and deal with such a situation,” it said.

Also, all airplane owners have been asked to do a safety risk review to look at the rudder control system risk and find ways to lower it.

The government also said that until further notice, these planes cannot do any Category III B approach, landing, or launch operations, including practice or real autoland. Category III B is for tasks that need to be done when vision is low.

As one of several steps, airlines have been asked to make sure that possible problems with the rudder control system are talked about in regular training meetings.

It will also be part of the Instrument Rating/Proficiency Checks (IR/PPC) that happen before the simulator training.

“Operators have been told to include certain exercises in IR/PPC and recurrent training that simulate situations where the rudder control system is stuck or limited, including rollout procedures.”

“The right responses and mitigations from the flight crew should be practiced during these exercises,” the regulator said in a statement.

DGCA also said that the temporary steps are meant to improve safety and make sure that flight crews are well-trained to deal with any problems that might arise with rudder control.