Air India Express Flight 611

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Air India Express Flight 611

VT-AYD, the aircraft involved in the incident, in 2011.
Incident
Date	11 October 2018 (2018-10-11)
Summary	Tailstrike due to captain's backrest collapsing and pilot error
Site	Tiruchirappalli International Airport, Tamil Nadu, India
Total fatalities	0
Total injuries	1
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-800
Operator	Air India Express
IATA flight No.	IX611
ICAO flight No.	AXB611
Call sign	Express India 611
Registration	VT-AYD
Flight origin	Tiruchirappalli International Airport, Tamil Nadu, India
Destination	Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates
Occupants	136
Passengers	130
Crew	6
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	136
Ground casualties
Ground injuries	1

Air India Express Flight 611 was an international flight from Tiruchirappalli, India, to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. On 11 October 2018, the aeroplane operating the flight suffered a severe tail strike and crashed into the localizer antenna and perimeter wall, due to the captain's backrest collapsing on takeoff. The aircraft continued to fly for four hours until it was diverted to Mumbai, India, where it landed safely.^[1][2]

Incident[]

After arriving at Tiruchirappalli, an engineer performing a walk-around inspection noted that one of the tyres on the right-hand landing gear was worn to the limit, and it was replaced.

Conditions were good, and the captain choose to take off from Runway 27. ATC granted Flight 611 takeoff clearance at 00:49 hours. The autothrottle was set to 98% for takeoff. Once the aircraft had accelerated to 117 knots, the backrest of the captain's seat suddenly collapsed. That caused him to inadvertently pull the throttle back, reducing thrust from 98% to 77%. The captain immediately called "your controls", giving the first officer control of the aircraft. Due to the sudden and unprecedented problem, the first officer failed to confirm the position of the thrust levers, a mandatory step if a pilot becomes incapacitated. Once he had recovered his position, the captain took back control of the aircraft with 2,000 feet (610 m) of runway left. Despite requiring more force than usual, the captain was able to rotate and the aircraft began to lift off with 1,000 feet (300 m) of runway still available. However, during the takeoff, the aircraft collided with the airport fence, an ILS antenna, and a brick wall. A motorist passing the brick wall was struck by debris and injured.^[3]

Once airborne, both pilots realised the aircraft was vibrating, which they attributed to wake turbulence and did nothing. Cabin crew at the rear of the aircraft felt a bump during takeoff and relayed that observation to the senior cabin crew at the first opportunity, although they believed the noise was caused by cargo moving. At the Trichy ATC Tower, operators become aware that the ILS Localiser was no longer working. Tower staff dispatched a crew to inspect the antenna, who discovered that it had been destroyed and that the one and a half meter-tall boundary wall had sustained significant damage, with parts of the aircraft skin embedded. The damage was found to be from the landing gear.

Flight 611 crew were informed of that by ATC at 00:56 but, inexplicably, decided to proceed with the flight, in violation of the tailstrike protocol, which states that the aircraft must not be pressurised and must land at the nearest available airport. The crew maintained an altitude of 21,000 feet while testing the landing gear and other systems. They soon requested to climb to 35,000 feet. Whilst the flight carried on towards Dubai, an Air India Express representative attended Tiruchirappalli Airport and inspected the damage done. Shortly thereafter, the company contacted the flight crew and instructed them to divert to Mumbai, despite the stricken aircraft being much closer to Dubai. Flight 611 touched down safely at Mumbai Airport at 05:38 hours, with the emergency services standing by.^[4]

After the aircraft had parked at a stand, an inspection found a large hole in the underside of the plane, with a light and VHF antenna having been ripped off, as well as damage to the landing gear, the left horizontal stabiliser, and the cowling of the number two engine.^[5][6][7]

Investigation[]

The subsequent investigation found that the collapse of the captain's backrest was due to over-tightening of the reclining mechanism. The investigation also found that had the first officer implemented a rejected takeoff, the aircraft would have had sufficient runway to come to a stop safely. Had either the first officer or captain increased thrust back to 98%, Flight 611 would have taken off safely.

See also[]

• Emirates Flight 407 - a tailstrike caused by too little thrust on takeoff.

References[]

External links[]

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