Boeing and Honeywell sued by families of Air India crash victims
The families of four passengers who died in the June crash of Air India Flight 171 have filed a lawsuit against Boeing and Honeywell, alleging negligence and a faulty fuel cutoff switch contributed to the accident that killed 260 people.
Flight 171 went down shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad en route to London on June 12. In a complaint filed Tuesday in Delaware Superior Court, the plaintiffs claim the locking mechanism for the switch on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner could disengage or be missing, potentially cutting off fuel supply and causing loss of thrust during takeoff. The suit alleges Boeing and Honeywell, which installed and manufactured the switch, were aware of the risk, particularly after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning in 2018 about disengaged locking mechanisms on several Boeing aircraft.
The complaint states that placing the switch directly behind the thrust levers meant “normal cockpit activity could result in inadvertent fuel cutoff,” and that the companies failed to take steps to prevent what the plaintiffs call an “inevitable catastrophe.” Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, declined to comment, while Honeywell in Charlotte, North Carolina, did not respond immediately.
The lawsuit, believed to be the first in the U.S. related to the crash, seeks unspecified damages for the deaths of Kantaben Dhirubhai Paghadal, Naavya Chirag Paghadal, Kuberbhai Patel, and Babiben Patel. In total, 229 passengers, 12 crew members, and 19 people on the ground died; one passenger survived. The plaintiffs reside in India or the U.K.
Investigators from India, the U.K., and the U.S. have not conclusively determined the crash’s cause. A preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau in July described confusion in the cockpit before the accident. That same month, U.S. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford expressed “a high level of confidence” that a mechanical failure or inadvertent fuel control movement was not responsible. Boeing previously faced over $20 billion in costs related to the 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019, which grounded the aircraft for 20 months.
The case is Paghadal et al v Boeing Co et al, Delaware Superior Court, No. N25C-09-145.
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