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Indian aviation officials are set to travel to Seattle next month to oversee Boeing's testing of a fuel-control switch panel removed from an Air India 787 Dreamliner after pilots reported a possible defect earlier this year, according to the Reuters news agency.

 

The panel involved in the February London-Bengaluru incident was later deemed "serviceable" by Boeing and India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Reuters reported citing internal emails.

 

The DGCA now wants to examine the switch's locking mechanism, including whether external pressure applied ?at a particular angle could move it when locked, the report said citing an ?Indian government official explaining the reasoning behind the Seattle visit.

 

The Indian government "wants to be thorough," said the official, who requested anonymity because the matter is sensitive.

 

The issue has drawn renewed attention because similar fuel switches came under scrutiny during the investigation into last year's deadly Air India crash in Gujarat that killed at least 260 people.

 

The US Federal Aviation Administration had said the crash did not sppear to have been caused by a mechanical issue and that a recorded dialogue between the flight's two pilots showed that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the engines, Reuters had reported last year.

 

India's pilots union and the captain's father, who had called for an independent investigation, denounced the implication that the crash was deliberate.

 

Under international rules, a final report into the crash from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is due next month.