The United States’ Federal Aviation Administration has ordered inspections of Boeing 767s, to check for a problem that could see pilots to lose control.

In a recent government filing, the bureaucratic body for aircraft said mandatory safety checks were triggered by claims some sheer rivets in the elevator power control actuator bellcrank had failed.

The particular actuator is used for adjusting the pitch of the aircraft.

A serious failure of the components in question could be disastrous, depriving the pilot of elevation control.

The FAA said it issued its airworthiness directive to make sure no planes took to the air with failed shear rivets. It said it wanted to prevent “certain failures or jams” causing a situation “resulting in a significant pitch upset and possible loss of control of the aeroplane”.

The order supersedes a series of inspections of the same rivets on the same plane, after problems were first discovered in 2000. It is estimated the maintenance order will ground about 415 US-registered planes.