IndiGo A321 suffers tail strike on landing in Mumbai in heavy rains

MUMBAI: An IndiGo A321 aircraft, operating a flight from Bangkok, suffered a tail strike when landing in Mumbai in heavy rains in the early hours of Saturday.

IndiGo flight 6E1060 departed Bangkok at 11.40 pm and landed in Mumbai around 3 am. But before it could touch down on runway 27 of the airport, the aircraft carried out a go-around, it descended to below 550 feet before the pilots decided to abort the landing and climb for a second attempt at touch down. The tail strike occurred during the go-around. A tail strike occurs when the tail, the aft section of the fuselage hits the runway or ground during a landing or take-off.

“On August 16, 2025 an IndiGo Airbus A321 aircraft tail touched the runway while executing a low-altitude go-around due to unfavourable weather conditions in Mumbai. Thereafter, the aircraft carried out another approach and landed safely. Following the standard protocol, the aircraft will go through necessary checks/ repairs and regulatory clearance before resuming operations,” said IndiGo in a press statement. “At IndiGo, the safety of our customers, crew, and aircraft is our top priority. We are making all efforts to minimise any subsequent impact on our operations due to this incident,” it added.

Sources pointed out that IndiGo did not inform the Mumbai air traffic control about the tail strike. “A tail strike could damage the runway surface, it could take out runway centre line flights or leave foreign objects on the runway, all of which is unsafe for the next aircraft that has lined up to take off or land. Airlines inform the ATC about tail strike because a runway inspection should be carried out after such an incident to ensure the safety of all aircraft operating from that runway,” said an aviation source.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is investigating the incident.

On March 08, an Indigo A321 (VT-IBI) operating flight 6E-5325 from Mumbai to Chennai suffered a tail strike on landing. The aircraft was grounded following the incident. Prior to this incident, on Sept 09, last year, the same IndiGo A321 aircraft had a tails trike on departure from Delhi to Bengaluru. The aircraft continued its flight and landed without problems though the plane had sustained serious damage.

In July 2023, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation levied a fine of Rs 30 lakhs on IndiGo after its aircraft suffered four tail strikes in a span of six months. The regulator found systematic deficiencies, including training and engineering procedures that led to the tail strikes. The A321 is a longer version of the A320 aircraft, its fuselage is 22 feet longer than the classic A320 aircraft.

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