DGCA orders probe after IndiGo plane scrapes runway-OxBig News Network

The DGCA is investigating the tail strike incident which occurred when IndiGo’s 6E- 5325 Mumbai-Chennai flight was making a landing on March 8, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The tail section of an IndiGo Airbus A321 aircraft scraped against the runway at Chennai Airport on Saturday (March 8, 2025) during the time of landing in what is at least the sixth such incident in the past 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 landing. The aircraft registered as VT-IBI made a landing at 1.55pm on Saturday at Chennai.

IndiGo said in a statement that the aircraft has since been grounded and will be back in operations post repairs and clearance.

A senior DGCA official explained that their enquiry will look into crew technique at the time of approach, wind conditions as well as the flap setting used for which IndiGo has also received a penalty from the regulator in the past.

Co-incidentally, the same aircraft was also involved in a tail strike on September 9, 2024, following which it was grounded till February 6 because of the extent of damage, which extended from the wings of the aircraft till the tail. The event was categorised as a serious incident, as there was a high probability of an accident, and the investigation was handed over to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. The report into the September tail strike has not yet been released.

AAIB sources said that they have collected inputs from Airbus on the September tail strike, but they are yet to determine whether the tail strike happened in Delhi or in Bengaluru. The Hindu reported on September 20, 2024, that though the aircraft was grounded in Bengaluru after a flight from Delhi where airline personnel saw the damage to the fuselage, according to multiple sources in the airline the aircraft had infact arrived at Delhi airport with the damaged belly where engineering personnel and pilots didn’t notice the scrape marks and the aircraft was released for its flight to Bengaluru. A mandatory walkaround or an inspection of the aircraft was not carried out at Delhi airport because it was raining, and the airline also suspended an aircraft maintenance engineer.

Such a lapse is a hazard for passenger safety as there could be potential damage to the pressurisation system located in this part of the aircraft impacting oxygen levels in passenger cabin.

Airbus pilots say that the A321 aircraft are more prone to tail strikes because of their extended length as compared to an Airbus A319 and A320. The A321 is 6.94 metres longer than the A320 and requires a more delicate angle of inclination at the time of landing and take-off.

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

Specifically there was a concern with the use of a “flap” configuration recommended by IndiGo to its pilots in order to reduce fuel consumption and save costs. Flaps are movable surfaces on the trailing edge of an aircraft’s wings that help control lift and drag (or friction).

A senior DGCA official explained that “as a company policy, the crew were asked to carry out flap 3 landing every time, which is not in line with the Airbus Flight Crew Operating Manual (FCOM) procedures.”

IndiGo was advised that the “flap 3 landing” recommended by it should be left to the pilot’s discretion. A flap 3 landing instead of a full flap or flap 4 landing impacts landing performance and helps achieve lower fuel burn of upto 20 to 30 kgs per landing, say some pilots.