Mumbai: A Directorate General of Civil Aviation investigation to determine the cause of a tail-strike involving an Air India flight from Mangalore has revealed that the co-pilot of the aircraft was responsible for the incident. The airman has not furnished satisfactory evidence that he was cleared to carry out landing manoeuvres, sources in the DGCA said. The aircraft, which sustained a tail-strike on February 15, carried 194 passengers, including seven crew members.
Co-pilots are permitted to land an aircraft if certified to do so by the DGCA - they are required to obtain what is known in aviation parlance as an Assisted Takeoff and Landing Clearance document. The AI crew member who was in the cockpit of the flight from Mangalore is yet to produce this certificate, DGCA officials said.
The belly of the long-tail section of the Airbus A-321 was scraped against the runway as the aircraft landed, indicating that the co-pilot lowered the rear end of the plane a few seconds before the nose wheel was deployed.
On analysing the Digital Flight Data Recorder, DGCA found that the co-pilot failed to engage the 'power to idle' function, causing the aircraft to 'float' longer than required, leading to it 'bounce hard' before coming to a halt on the runway in Mumbai. A DGCA official said the DFDR readout showed the pilot had to intervene to steady the craft. It then "rolled out without further incident". There were no injuries reported, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage and remains grounded.
24/02/15 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
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Co-pilots are permitted to land an aircraft if certified to do so by the DGCA - they are required to obtain what is known in aviation parlance as an Assisted Takeoff and Landing Clearance document. The AI crew member who was in the cockpit of the flight from Mangalore is yet to produce this certificate, DGCA officials said.
The belly of the long-tail section of the Airbus A-321 was scraped against the runway as the aircraft landed, indicating that the co-pilot lowered the rear end of the plane a few seconds before the nose wheel was deployed.
On analysing the Digital Flight Data Recorder, DGCA found that the co-pilot failed to engage the 'power to idle' function, causing the aircraft to 'float' longer than required, leading to it 'bounce hard' before coming to a halt on the runway in Mumbai. A DGCA official said the DFDR readout showed the pilot had to intervene to steady the craft. It then "rolled out without further incident". There were no injuries reported, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage and remains grounded.
24/02/15 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
