What is RAT in an aircraft? Air India Amritsar-Birmingham flight encounters serious mid-air scare

An Air India plane on Saturday saw unexpected deployment of the RAT which is designed to automatically deploy only in extreme emergencies.

An Air India flight going from Punjab's Amritsar to England's Birmingham encountered a serious mid-air scare on Saturday as the aircraft – a Boeing 787 – saw unexpected deployment of its Ram Air Turbine (RAT) during landing.

An Air India passenger plane flies near houses as it makes its landing approach.(Reuters/File)

The incident, which revived haunting memories of the June 12 Air India crash, prompted the pilots’ union to flag the need for detailed check of the aircraft’s electrical system.

What is RAT?

The RAT or Ram Air Turbine is a small propeller-like device, designed to automatically deploy only in extreme emergencies such as a dual engine failure or total power loss.

Its unexpected deployment is rare and usually signals a technical fault.

The RAT was also deployed in the June 12 plane crash in which an Air India aircraft, also a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, flying to London's Gatwick crashed into a building shortly after takeoff from Gujarat's Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.

“The operating crew of flight AI117 from Amritsar to Birmingham on 4 October 2025 detected deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) of the aircraft during its final approach. All electrical and hydraulic parameters were found normal, and the aircraft performed a safe landing at Birmingham,” Air India said in a statement.

The aircraft was grounded for inspection, leading to the cancellation of its Birmingham-Delhi return flight. “Alternative arrangements are being made to accommodate the passengers,” Air India added.

The Saturday incident has once again raised questions about the reliability of the Boeing 787 fleet which came under massive scrutiny after the June 12 Air India plane crash.

US aircraft maker Boeing has not commented publicly on the earlier crash, one of the worst in India in three decades.

After this incident, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) wrote to the DGCA to conduct detailed checks of the electrical system of the B787 aircraft in India.

In the letter on Sunday, the union that consists of over 5,500 pilots across the country stated, “It is pertinent to note that incident in another pointer towards the AI crash of B-787 aircraft.... in the interest of Air Safety FIP insists that DGCA must thoroughly check and investigate the electrical system of B-787 a/c in the country.”

It said that, after the Air India -171 crash, the FIP has been constantly insisting on thorough check up of the electrical system of B-787 aircraft in the country.