There have been three tail strike incidents of Indigo Airlines planes in the last three months. After which the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered action against the crew members. One tail strike took place on 2 February and two on 14 April. A senior DGCA official told that action has been taken in this matter based on the result of the investigation.
The officer said that the crew members involved in these cases have been off-rostered, that is, they have been prevented from working and have been asked to undergo corrective training based on the test results before release for flying duties. Crew members will be able to return to work only after this training.
Further, based on the facts of the case, the take-off and landing approval of the airline was withdrawn. The officer said that the aircraft involved in the matter have been released after carrying out necessary maintenance actions as per the approved maintenance procedure.
The officer said, "All pilots have been sent a message about tail strike awareness during take-off, landing and go-around." Training department has informed all the trainers to discuss the awareness about tail strike with the trainees. "It has also been proposed to extend the training to manual flying for command pilots and to include it for first officers," the officer said. The case study will be issued to all pilots.
However, according to IndiGo airline, only two incidents of tail strike have been recorded this year. The first incident took place at Kolkata airport in January and the second incident took place at Nagpur airport in April.
Indigo said, 'On 14 April 2023, flight 6E 203 from Mumbai suffered a tail strike while landing at Nagpur. After this, a grounded announcement was made at Nagpur airport to check and repair the aircraft. This incident is being investigated in detail.
The airline said that no one was injured in the incident. When the tail of an aircraft hits the ground or any other fixed object during take-off or landing, it is called a tail strike.
