DGCA orders probe after IndiGo airplane scrapes runway

The DGCA is investigating the tail strike incident which occurred when IndiGo’s 6E- 5325 Mumbai-Chennai flight was making a touchdown on March 8, 2025.
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association

The tail part of an IndiGo Airbus A321 plane scraped towards the runway at Chennai Airport on Saturday (March 8, 2025) throughout the time of touchdown in what’s no less than the sixth such incident previously two years for the airline.

The DGCA is investigating the tail strike incident which occurred when IndiGo’s 6E- 5325 Mumbai-Chennai flight was making a touchdown. The plane registered as VT-IBI made a touchdown at 1.55pm on Saturday at Chennai.

IndiGo stated in a press release that the plane has since been grounded and will likely be again in operations submit repairs and clearance.

A senior DGCA official defined that their enquiry will look into crew approach on the time of method, wind situations in addition to the flap setting used for which IndiGo has additionally acquired a penalty from the regulator previously.

Co-incidentally, the identical plane was additionally concerned in a tail strike on September 9, 2024, following which it was grounded until February 6 due to the extent of harm, which prolonged from the wings of the plane until the tail. The occasion was categorised as a severe incident, as there was a excessive chance of an accident, and the investigation was handed over to the Plane Accident Investigation Bureau. The report into the September tail strike has not but been launched.

AAIB sources stated that they’ve collected inputs from Airbus on the September tail strike, however they’re but to find out whether or not the tail strike occurred in Delhi or in Bengaluru. The Hindu reported on September 20, 2024, that although the plane was grounded in Bengaluru after a flight from Delhi the place airline personnel noticed the injury to the fuselage, in accordance with a number of sources within the airline the plane had infact arrived at Delhi airport with the broken stomach the place engineering personnel and pilots didn’t discover the scrape marks and the plane was launched for its flight to Bengaluru. A compulsory walkaround or an inspection of the plane was not carried out at Delhi airport as a result of it was raining, and the airline additionally suspended an plane upkeep engineer.

Such a lapse is a hazard for passenger security as there may very well be potential injury to the pressurisation system situated on this a part of the plane impacting oxygen ranges in passenger cabin.

Airbus pilots say that the A321 plane are extra vulnerable to tail strikes due to their prolonged size as in comparison with an Airbus A319 and A320. The A321 is 6.94 metres longer than the A320 and requires a extra delicate angle of inclination on the time of touchdown and take-off.

In July 2023, the DGCA additionally imposed a penalty of ₹30 lakh on IndiGo after recording atleast six tail strikes involving Airbus A321 Neos. It discovered “systemic deficiencies pertaining to operations, coaching procedures and engineering procedures”.

Particularly there was a priority with the usage of a “flap” configuration really helpful by IndiGo to its pilots with a view to cut back gas consumption and save prices. Flaps are movable surfaces on the trailing fringe of an plane’s wings that assist management carry and drag (or friction).

A senior DGCA official defined that “as an organization coverage, the crew had been requested to hold out flap 3 touchdown each time, which isn’t consistent with the Airbus Flight Crew Working Handbook (FCOM) procedures.”

IndiGo was suggested that the “flap 3 touchdown” really helpful by it ought to be left to the pilot’s discretion. A flap 3 touchdown as an alternative of a full flap or flap 4 touchdown impacts touchdown efficiency and helps obtain decrease gas burn of upto 20 to 30 kgs per touchdown, say some pilots.