Tailstrike of Indigo aircraft raises serious concerns

The scraped underside of the Indigo aircraft

Serious concerns have been expressed over the tailstrike incident of the IndiGo aircraft which took off from Delhi. Experts have red-flagged the decision of the pilots to continue the flight to Bengaluru despite the tailstrike happening at Delhi. One major concern, is the possibility of rapid cabin depressurisation mid-air if the tailstrike would have caused even a minor leak to the fuselage.

The incident

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The incident happened on September 9 when IndiGo flight 6E 6054 (Delhi - Bengaluru) bearing the registration VT-IBI took off from Delhi around 4.17 pm from Delhi Airport where the tail of the aircraft struck the runway during the take off.

The pilots decided to continue the journey to Bengaluru instead of initiating an emergency landing procedure. RA senior DGCA official said, "The flight data recorder has been sent to the instrument manufacturer for technical analysis. The results for the same are awaited." The airline also confirmed the tailstrike. "On 9th September 2024, an IndiGo A321 was grounded in Bangalore due to a tail strike," it said in a statement.

Serious concerns

Several pilots that mid-day spoke with wondered how the pilots could continued flying the aircraft after the tailstrike instead of carrying out an emergency landing. "Such an impact could possibly result in cabin depressurisation which would lead to a loss of air pressure in the cabin. Above a certain altitude, the concentration of oxygen in the air reduces and also, the air becomes thin which makes it very difficult to breathe.

That is the reason, cabin pressure is very important," a senior flight instructor said. "It may even damage the tail cone impacting aerodynamic functions as well as the sensitive equipment inside the aircraft such as hydraulics and flight controls. It may even lead to increased fuel burn which may lead to the issue of low or no fuel till the time the aircraft reaches its destination," he said.

Sanjay Lazar, an aviation expert said, "During the Gulf War, we had a similar situation. We developed a hole but the Pilot in Command decided to fly on. Obviously, his licence was suspended for years after that. It is very risky to fly in such cases as the extent of damage cannot be understood midair."

Were pilots informed?

The incident came to light only after the aircraft landed in Bengaluru, and an aircraft maintenance engineer saw scrapes under the aircraft fuselage during an inspection ahead of the next flight. mid-day spoke to several A320 and A321 senior pilots to understand whether the tailstrike would have gone unnoticed by the pilots flying.

One of the senior A321 pilots who is working in the aviation industry as a pilot trainer explained, "There is no instrument in the cockpit of an Airbus A320 or A321 to indicate that a tailstrike has occurred." He added, "Sometimes a minor scrape can go unnoticed, especially in the longer A321s where there is an increased distance between the pilots in the cockpit and the rear section of the aircraft,."

However, he pointed out, "The cabin crew in the aft or rear section of the aircraft should have been able to relay the information to the pilots as they are trained to detect and respond to loud thuds and scraping noise." When asked, a senior DGCA official told mid-day, "The cabin crew of the flight is also under investigation to understand whether they felt the tailstrike or any scraping or thud noises were heard."