Yet another Iranian crash

[RoyHudd]

Transport a/c with 38 p.o.b crashed on take off from Tehran Mehrabad airport Sunday evening. No survivors. Appalling safety record in Iran these days.

[ORAC]

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian military aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from a Tehran airport on Monday, killing 36 people on board, state-run television reported. It said two people survived the crash of the Russian-designed Antonov-74 and were being treated in hospital.

The plane was being used by the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological wing of the Islamic Republic's military. A statement by the Guards, read on state television, said 30 Guards members and six crew were killed. "Two members of the Revolutionary Guards have also been injured and have been transferred to hospital," the statement said. Earlier, the television said all 38 on board were killed.

Iran's Mehr News Agency said the plane was burnt out and that the bodies of the dead were charred. Journalists saw ambulances, with sirens wailing, going to the airport but security officials barred entry to the crash site.

The television said the plane was headed for Shiraz, a city south of Tehran, when it crashed after taking off from Mehrabad airport, which is used for civilian and military flights. The Guards statement said the Guards members "were going to southern Iran on a mission" but gave no further details......

[jondc9]

very similiar, except like very ancient French planes, the throttles are backward, pull throttle to increase thrust instead of the normal way.

[ORAC]

Amazing how its never their fault isnt it? Undoubtedly the fault of the USA for not selling them spares - oh, no, wait, its an Antonov. Must be sabotage instead...... :ugh: :ugh:

The Grauniad (http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,1958106,00.html): Plane crash in Tehran kills elite troops

Iran's poor air safety record came under renewed scrutiny today after at least 36 Revolutionary Guards were killed when a military plane burst into flames on takeoff.

Reports suggested the Russian-built Antonov-74 had sustained engine failure before veering off the runway at Tehran's Mehrabad airport. It is believed to have exploded after striking an object.

The aircraft was transporting mid-ranking officers to a military facility in Shiraz, about 650 miles south of Tehran. It was initially reported that there were two survivors but unconfirmed reports suggested that they later died in hospital. Fire and rescue services found the charred remains of some victims scattered on the ground.

Yahya Rahim Safavi, the revolutionary guards' commander-in-chief, told the official IRNA news agency that the plane had suffered a "technical failure in its engine" but hinted at foul play and said an investigation would determine the cause.

Referring to recent war games displaying Iran's military might and to on-going celebrations honouring the Basij, the country's religious volunteer militia, he said: "It is natural after the Greatest Prophet manoeuvres and during the Basij week that the enemy should do something. Revengeful enemies have surrounded us and inside there are also some hypocrites.".......

[Brian Abraham]

It is natural after the Greatest Prophet manoeuvres and during the Basij week that the enemy should do something. Revengeful enemies have surrounded us and inside there are also some hypocrites.".......

Definately not Gods will then. Sorry.

[galaxy flyer]

Certainly an indication that the Iranians are not 10 feet tall, just like the Russians weren't once we saw them up close and personal. I think it was Andy Rooney would observed that anyone, ANYONE, who visited Moscow in the '70s and '80s would have known that the Russians were not the threat the CIA was saying they were.

GF

[Capt W E Johns]

Oh for pity's sake. It's a plane crash, not a diplomatic or political point scoring exercise. The Iranians are not 10' tall, and nor were the Iraqis nor the Taleban nor the Russians nor are the North Koreans nor Fidel Castro... For chrissake stop listening to Western propaganda and use your head. How about someone starts a sympathy thread for the human beings who perished in this accident? Seems to be the first thing that happens when someone YOU know dies...

[MrBernoulli]

........ because the Iranians are the enemy Captain! Where have you been?

[BEagle]

I'm not convinced of that, MrB.....

Some while ago, after some of Uncle Spam's gung-ho idiots shot down an Iranian A300 (no doubt 'high 5-ing' eachother and whooping 'way to go' even before the wreckage hit the water), an RAF crew was at a static display in the Land of the Lardarses. As one does, they had been partaking of a little 'refreshment'. Some reporter thrust a microphone under the nose of the navigator and asked for a comment about the Airbus shoot-down.

"A terrible tragedy", he said
"Waddya mean - surely the guys just reacted to an 'inbound bogey' "
"No - I mean it was a terrible tragedy - because I hear there were 80 empty seats on the aircraft"

OOPS! Still, he's now a 1 star!

Biggest threat to world peace is neither Iran nor even North Korea...... Commiseration to the bereaved.

[ORAC]

The biggest threat to the lives of the crews and passengers is the assh*les in charge of them. The C-130 crash they had earlier in the year was, by all accounts, caused by calling in more and more junior pilots before they found one willing to fly it - then refusing landing permission because of a planned VIP movement when he requested an immediate return to land.

Now this, and instead of recognising a problem, blame it on sabotage. No wonder they keep on losing them.

[Flap62]

Beags,

Must say I feel pushed to feel compassion for these chaps. More likely to feel compassion for our boys and girls in Basra who are being targeted by Iranian special forces, killed by insurgents with Iranian training and blown up by Iranian manufactured devices.

Let's stop the trendy, rabid anti-american bias for one moment and just look at what's really threatening our troops.

[MarkD]

Elite revolutionary guards? Is that like Saddam's "elite republican guards"?

Just coz IRNA calls them elite doesn't make them so does it?

[brickhistory]

Beags,
Let's stop the trendy, rabid anti-american bias for one moment



To be fair to him, it doesn't appear that his bias is a 'trendy' development........

[West Coast]

In of itself, Beag's can deny anything.

However when viewed over time....the volume of crap speaks for his character

Every time someone has a go at the US Beagle is Johnny on the spot with a story about how so and so was somewhere and heard a Yank say this or that. Full of **** is the term that comes to mind, liar is another

I have yet in my years here on the prune see Beagle NOT have a story when he needed one to dove tail into the thread. Almost like its was crafted up just for the thread.....

Plenty of other Brits here who served as long or longer in the Brit mil, funny none of them seem to have the volume of stories you have available at the keyboard right when you need them. This fabrication includes quotes and all from the RAF crew at the static display with the dialect and demeanor Beagle likes to assign to Yanks.

Hmmm... At least make your tall stories somewhat believable. And how 'bout verifiable while we're at it. That should stop you from posting for a while if you follow that suggestion.