DGCA imposes penalty of Rs 30 lakh on IndiGo for tail strike incidents

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday imposed a financial penalty of Rs 30 lakh on IndiGo airline for four tail strike incidents within a span of six months this year.

The DGCA conducted a special audit of IndiGo to examine the company’s documentation and procedures pertaining to the operations, training, engineering, and flight data management (FDM) programme.

The audit highlighted the deficiency in the training and engineering procedure of IndiGo.

The DGCA issued a show cause notice to the airlines, instructing them to submit their response within the specified timeframe.

However, upon review at different levels, the provided reply was deemed unsatisfactory.

The DGCA has also directed the airline to make necessary amendments to their documents and procedures to comply with the DGCA requirements and the guidelines provided by the original equipment manufacturers (OEM).

Since last April, IndiGo has seen at least eight tail strikes on its A321s.

On July 26, the regulator suspended the licences of pilots who had operated an Ahmedabad-bound flight on June 15, 2023, which had a tail strike during landing.

The DGCA suspended the licence of the pilot-in-command for three months, and the co-pilot’s licence for a month. The regulator had issued a show cause to the pilots on this incident and found a “violation of the provisions of the relevant (rules)” by the crew that had led to the same.

A tail strike occurs when the aft fuselage (tail) of an aeroplane comes in contact with the runway during takeoff or landing.