The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its final investigation report probing runway edge lights damage incident at the Chennai International Airport in February 2025 has concluded that the pilot in command of the Star Air flight to Bengaluru deviated from the lead line on the taxiway (TWY K), aligned the aircraft on the runway 07 edge line and initiated the takeoff roll thereby damaging seven runway edge lights.
On February 25, 2025, a Star Air flight (SDG 8216) operating from Chennai to Bengaluru, with 34 passengers and six crew members, took off from the Chennai International Airport at 4.53 p.m. and landed at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) at 5.33 p.m.
All persons on board the flight were safe and there was no fire reported.
At 7.41 p.m., a security jeep, while carrying out a routine runway inspection at Chennai Airport, reported that seven runway edge lights were found broken on the right side of RWY 07.
According to DGCA, during this time (between 4.53 p.m. and 7.41 p.m.), there were a total of 45 aircraft movements (including arrivals/departures) and none of these aircrafts reported any abnormalities in the airfield or to their aircraft.
“After detailed examination, it was observed that SDG 8216, while lining up from TWY K, aligned to the extreme right side of RWY 07 and took off,” the DGCA report stated.
It further added that information on this was communicated to the aircraft operator the next day to check for any damage and the operator informed that no abnormalities were observed. However, by that time, the aircraft had already flown to three sectors.
“After the completion of all the planned sectors (six) of the day, the aircraft was subjected to layover inspection at Bengaluru. During the inspection, no abnormalities were reported on both the main landing gear and nose landing gear. Post inspection, the aircraft was released for further flight,” it added.
The regulator concluded the probable cause for the incident was that the pilot in command deviated from the lead line on TWY K and aligned the aircraft on the RWY07 edge line, and initiated the takeoff roll, which resulted in damage to the runway edge lights.
In its safety recommendations, the DGCA has said that the airline operator should impart appropriate training to the crew based on the probable cause and that it shall impart the airport familiarisation training to all the pilots, as per the laid down procedure in organisation flight crew training manual, before assigning the crew to a new airport.
Published – January 18, 2026 08:42 pm IST
