Tailstrike of Indigo aircraft raises serious concerns

Serious concerns have been expressed over the tailstrike incident of the IndiGo aircraft which took off from Delhi Experts have redflagged 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 midair if the tailstrike would have caused even a minor leak to the fuselageThe incidentThe incident happened on September 9 when IndiGo flight 6E 6054 Delhi Bengaluru bearing the registration VTIBI took off from Delhi around 417 pm from Delhi Airport where the tail of the aircraft struck the runway during the take offThe pilots decided to continue the journey to Bengaluru instead of initiating an emergency landing procedure RA senior DGCA official said ldquoThe flight data recorder has been sent to the instrument manufacturer for technical analysis The results for the same are awaitedrdquo The airline also confirmed the tailstrike ldquoOn 9th September 2024 an IndiGo A321 was grounded in Bangalore due to a tail strikerdquo it said in a statementSerious concernsSeveral pilots that midday spoke with wondered how the pilots could continued flying the aircraft after the tailstrike instead of carrying out an emergency landing ldquoSuch 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 breatheThat is the reason cabin pressure is very importantrdquo a senior flight instructor said ldquoIt 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 destinationrdquo he saidSanjay Lazar an aviation expert said ldquoDuring 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 midairrdquoWere pilots informedThe 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 midday spoke to several A320 and A321 senior pilots to understand whether the tailstrike would have gone unnoticed by the pilots flyingOne of the senior A321 pilots who is working in the aviation industry as a pilot trainer explained ldquoThere is no instrument in the cockpit of an Airbus A320 or A321 to indicate that a tailstrike has occurredrdquo He added ldquoSometimes 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 aircraftrdquoHowever he pointed out ldquoThe 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 noiserdquo When asked a senior DGCA official told midday ldquoThe cabin crew of the flight is also under investigation to understand whether they felt the tailstrike or any scraping or thud noises were heardrdquo