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| Date: | Wednesday 13 March 2024 |
| Time: | 22:30 |
| Type: |  Airbus A320-251N |
| Owner/operator: | Air India Express |
| Registration: | VT-ATJ |
| MSN: | 10520 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2021 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 9356 hours |
| Engine model: | CFMI CFM LEAP-1A26 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 54 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor, repaired |
| Category: | Incident |
| Location: | Surat Gujarat Airport (STV/VASU) -
 India
|
| Phase: | Taxi |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Sharjah Airport (SHJ/OMSJ) |
| Surat Gujarat Airport (STV/VASU) | |
| Investigating agency: | DGAC India |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Air India Express flight IX172, an Airbus A320-251N, struck a construction vehicle during taxi after landing at Surat. The aircraft sustained damage to a leading edge slat on the left-hand wing.
During taxi after landing, the aircraft took a left turn on a non-operational (greyed-out) old apron taxiway, which is 9m away from the apron pavement edge.
As they were taxiing on the wrong apron taxiway and were trying to identify the stand, the aircraft LH wing hit the bed of the construction dump truck. The FO reacted initially saying something had hit to which the PIC replied ‘nothing has hit’ and ‘its all okay’. The aircraft was halted for 8 seconds and in the meantime, FO identified stand no 8.
After the PIC said its clear from the left side, the FO identified the taxiway they were on, had its markings removed. As the aircraft was taking turn for joining lead-in line for Stand no. 8, the FO identified that they were not on a taxiway and had shown PIC the actual taxiway.
After docking, the AME informed the crew that the no.5 slat was damaged. Nobody was injured in this incident. The incident took place at night.
Cause:
The failure of the crew to correctly identify the operational apron taxiway and following the non-operational apron taxiway and failure to take cognizance of the obstacles near the apron edge line.
Contributory Factor:
The lack of taxiway closure marking on the old apron taxiway, improper obliteration of old apron taxiway marking, use of non-reflective pavement markings and the improper mitigating actions during safety risk assessment by the aerodrome operator are the contributing factors to the incident.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/vt-atj#3458ffe4
Location
Media:
New :
— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) March 15, 2024
- @AirIndiaX flight landing from Sharjah and taxing to the apron in Surat hits a stationary object
- VT-ATJ wing damaged, plane grounded
✈️@DGCAIndia @AviationSafety pic.twitter.com/bYJr05PXZy
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 15-Mar-2024 09:40 | ASN | Added |
| 15-Mar-2024 09:40 | ASN | Updated [Location, Embed code, ] |
| 15-Mar-2024 10:09 | ASN | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 24-Jan-2025 17:57 | ASN | Updated [Total occupants, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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