IndiGo’s Bangkok-Mumbai flight suffers tail strike; DGCA to order probe

An IndiGo aircraft operating its Bangkok-Mumbai flight suffered a tail strike while attempting to land at the airport here on Saturday, prompting aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to order a probe into the incident, sources said.

Both the pilots of the Airbus A321neo have been derostered pending investigation, they said.

“On August 16, an IndiGo Airbus A321 aircraft tail touched the runway while executing a low-altitude go-around due to unfavourable weather conditions in Mumbai,” IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement.

The airline flight 6E 1060 departed from Bangkok at 12.12 am (local time) against its scheduled departure time of 11.40 pm (local time) and finally landed at the Mumbai airport at 3.04 am against its scheduled arrival time of 2.50 am, as per flight tracking website flightradar24.com.

“Thereafter the aircraft carried out another approach and landed safely,” the airline said.

“We will be undertaking an investigation on this incident,” a senior DGCA official said.

Heavy downpour pummelled Mumbai and its suburbs, with some parts recording more than 200 mm rainfall in the wee hours of Saturday, inundating low-lying areas and affecting the transport services including movement of local trains and flights.

Incessant rain continued to lash parts of the city in the morning with occasional heavy spells.

The downpour began around 1 am and continued into the early hours of the day, causing waterlogging in low-lying areas of the western and eastern suburbs.

According to IMD, several parts of Mumbai recorded more than 200 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am on Friday and 5.30 am on Saturday.

According to sources, there were as many as 15 go-arounds (including the IndiGo flight with tail strike) at Mumbai Airport between midnight to 6 am on Saturday.

Besides this, two flights, one each of Air India and IndiGo were diverted to other airports, and later landed back in Mumbai, the source said.

Following the standard protocol, the aircraft will go through necessary checks/ repairs and regulatory clearance before resuming operations, IndiGo said in the statement.

“We are making all efforts to minimise any subsequent impact on our operations due to this incident,” the IndiGo spokesperson added in the statement.