IRANIAN AIR POLITICIAN BLAMES PILOT ERROR FOR YESTERDAY’S JET CRASH
Wikinews
Monday, January 25, 2010
Reza Nakhjavani, head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, has
publicly stated that he blames yesterday’s jet crash on pilot error.
Nobody was killed when the Tupolev Tu-154 crash-landed and caught
fire on the runway.
Media reports at the time said the aircraft was performing an
emergency landing in Mashad owing to a passenger requiring medical
attention. Nakhjavani said that he is yet to see confirmation of this
passenger’s existance, and accused the pilot of placing one life before
over 150 others; there were a combined 170 passengers and crew aboard.
The Taban Air plane then crashed in the fog and caught fire. The
aircraft sustained a tailstrike followed by landing gear failure
and the right wing breaking. Forty-six people were injured and the
Tu-154 burned on the runway. Nakhjavani claimed the pilot’s actions
were illegal and he had no clearance to land, also blaming Air Taban
and stating they were negligent.
Hamid Behbahani, Minister of Roads and Transportation, also blamed
"human error" for both the air crash and a train accident the same
day that killed nine people. However, he stated that the foggy weather
conditions also played a role in the plane crash. Taban’s license is
currently suspended.
Iran uses a number of Russian and Soviet-built aircraft, particularly
Tupolevs. In recent years these have had a high accident rate. Last
year a Tu-154 crash killed 168 people shortly after takeoff from
Tehran heading to Yerevan, Armenia. It was the worst accident in
Iranian aviation history. RIA Novosti has stated that this fleet is
aging and in urgent need of maintenance and repair work, while Iran
blames international sanctions which they claim prevent the import
of spare parts except low-quality products from Russia.
Regardless of the causes of the problems Iran has experienced with
its Tupolevs, the nation today banned the import of any more Tupolev
Tu-154 aircraft. Meanwhile, Russia has sent a team from the Interstate
Aviation Committee to assist investigations. Under the Convention on
International Civil Aviation the state which manufactured an aircraft
typically asists any probe into an accident involving it.
The Interstate Aviation Committee was set up after the collapse of
the Soviet Union to replace the single body in place accross the
USSR. If Iran concludes negligent pilot error was indeed to blame
then the country cannot sanction the flight crew since they are
employed by Russia’s Federal Aviation Service. The Russian party to
the investigation issues flight is responsible for licensing pilots.