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Features

Why Did the Iranian Airliner Crash?

February 18, 2018
Aida Ghajar
5 min read
On the morning of February 18 an Aseman Airlines passenger plane crashed, killing 60 passengers and six crew members
On the morning of February 18 an Aseman Airlines passenger plane crashed, killing 60 passengers and six crew members
The likely crash site of flight EP3704 in a mountainous area of Isfahan Province
The likely crash site of flight EP3704 in a mountainous area of Isfahan Province

On the morning of Sunday, February 18, Aseman Airlines passenger Flight EP3704, en route from Tehran to the south-western city of Yasuj, 620 kilometers south of Tehran, crashed into Dena Mountain, elevation 4,409 meters, near the city of Semirom in Isfahan Province. Everyone on board was killed, a total of 66 passengers and crew.

Early speculations about the cause of the crash range from theories about technical problems to atmospheric conditions. Officials have yet to respond to speculations, dismissing the technical problems theory as a “rumor.” But, according to the Iranian newspaper Shargh, the same plane had previously experienced technical problems on January 25.

The plane was an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, manufactured by a joint venture between France and Italy and often deployed for short flights. The craft was 20 years old and had been returned to service following repairs by Asman Airlines engineers after spending seven years in the hangar.

This is not the first time that ATR 72 planes have caused problems for Iranian aviation. In summer 2017, Mehr News Agency of Iran reported that a ATR 72 plane had been grounded. At the time, officials from the airline claimed that a defective “food heater” was the reason for the crash, but Mehr reported that one of the main components of the plane had broken down and that Iran had been unsuccessful in acquiring the replacement part from the French-Italian manufacturer. “A plane that was purchased with $30 million cash was grounded after 10 days of operation because [Iran Air] failed to secure a replacement for the defective piece,” Mehr News Agency reported.

Nevertheless, officials of Aseman Airlines now say that the Iran Civil Aviation Organization would not have permitted the plane to fly if it had technical problems. According to them, the more likely causes were atmospheric conditions and the location of Yasuj’s airport.

But a flight engineer who works with Air France in Paris told IranWire that the most likely reason for the crash was a technical problem. According to him, ATR planes used in Europe for short flights are highly reliable and safe. He says these planes cannot be compared to Russian Tupolev planes, which had crashed repeatedly in Russia.

Age of the Plane is Irrelevant

Some Iranian officials have pointed out the advanced age of the plane that crashed. Ali Abedzadeh, the head of the Iran Civil Aviation Organization, said the plane had been manufactured in 1993, but the Air France flight engineer told IranWire that the age of the plane would not have been a factor in the crash. “We still have Airbuses that are more than 30 years old, but still fly without any problem,” he said. “We even have planes that are almost half a century old but nothing has ever happened to them. What makes a plane safe for its passengers are inspections and on-time replacement of its components.”

He also points out that, when Iran buys planes it is the buyer that decides what plane that will be sold to the buyer (and how old it is), based what the buyer can afford.

“Before any plane takes off from the runway,” said the flight engineer, “it is inspected by flight mechanics. They give the pilot a list, confirming that all components and instruments are working properly and then the pilot shares the lists with flight engineers. Both the pilot and flight engineers must confirm that the plane is safe for flight before it can take off. In the flight cabin the pilot has a gauge that tells him the altitude. If the instruments are working properly it is impossible for the pilot to be unaware of the altitude.”

According to him, the instruments are effective no matter how bad atmospheric conditions are. “A plane simply does not crash into a mountain,” he says. “Even in the midst of clouds and fog, the instruments do what they are supposed to do. The distance between the plane and the mountain or the sea is quite clear. Pilots fly by instruments. Saying ‘the pilot did not see the mountain’ is wrong. It is highly likely that the plane’s instruments had technical difficulties and it is quite possible that the pilot did not notice the problem.”

In an interview with Al Jazeera, David Learmount, an aviation safety specialist and former pilot, agreed that ATR planes are safe and had passed the test. “Weather in the mountains where the plane crashed was pretty bad,” he said. “It looks as if, when the aircraft was carrying out its initial descent towards its destination, it was in the wrong position and it hit mountains. Basically, it's a failure of navigation. An airplane hitting mountains in clouds is like a ship hitting rocks.”

According to Learmount, the jet that crashed was "a very well-tested airplane [model], but the carrier was not unfamiliar with accidents in Iran's difficult terrain. Iran Aseman Airlines flies through lot of difficult terrain of the country. It is more exposed to risk just by the virtue of the country that Iran is."

“What Navigation Instrument?

Following the crash, one person went on to a social networking site to give his experience with Aseman Airlines and one of its officials. In 2007, he said, when he wanted to buy a ticket to fly from Tehran to the northeastern city of Gorgan, he was told by the ticket agent that the flight had been canceled because of “cloudy” conditions over the destination. When he asked how modern the plane’s instruments were, the agent answered: “What navigation instruments? When the pilot reaches the airport at the destination, he talks to the person in the control tower and then lands the plane by hand, following the guidance of the control tower.”

According to Skytrax, a trusted UK-based consultancy that ranks airlines and airports around the world, Iran Air has one of the world’s worst safety records.

In 2016, Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported that between 1979 and 2014 Tehran was at the top of list for air accidents, with a total of 1,985 fatalities. According to the Iranian Aviation News Agency, every year following the 1979 revolution, there have been a number of airplane crashes resulting in fatalities in Iran. 

On February 18, in addition to expressing their horror about what happened, people shared memories of the other crashes in which Iranians died. And the mourning families of the most recent crash are waiting for the black box to be retrieved to find out, perhaps, the reason why their loved ones died.

 

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