New Delhi: The Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the license of IndiGo captain for three months and co-pilot for one month for landing in Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport with a tail strike. The suspension comes as a stern response to the aviation mishap that occurred on June 15, where flight 6E6595 en route from Bengaluru to Ahmedabad experienced a tail strike upon landing. The flight landed safely and has been declared grounded. All the passengers on the flight were safe and IndiGo has ordered a detailed investigation into the matter.
“IndiGo flight 6E6595, operating from Bengaluru to Ahmedabad experienced a tail strike while landing in Ahmedabad. The aircraft was declared grounded at Ahmedabad airport for necessary assessment and repairs. The incident is under investigation by relevant authorities,” Indigo had said in a statement.
In June, another IndiGo flight faced challenging weather conditions while attempting to land in Mumbai. The adverse effects of the cyclonic storm Biparjoy led to the Lucknow-Mumbai flight 6E-2441 to abort its landing. As a result, the aircraft was redirected to Udaipur, where it encountered further difficulties during landing. Despite encountering unfavourable conditions, the flight made a hard landing in Udaipur after two unsuccessful attempts to touch down at the Mumbai airport.
What is a tailstrike?
A tailstrike occurs when the tail of an aircraft skids through or hits the ground or an object during takeoff or landing. There are various reasons why this could occur, but mostly it is due to a “high attack angle” during takeoff or landing. Boeing in a study of tailstrikes noted that some models of their aircraft can be susceptible to tailstrikes, but blamed most such incidents on pilot error and pilot experience.
The Boeing study said that tailstrikes may occur among pilots with even the most experience with an aircraft model, with those transitioning from one model to another, or have less than 100 hours of flight time with a new aircraft. In IndiGo’s case, the aircraft affected have been Airbus A321 neos. While there are no specific recurring incidents of tailstrikes in the A320 families, there have been a few incidents.