Iranian safety update
The Iranians have struggled to even buy parts for almost all of their fleet (Fokker aren't allowed to support the F-100s in Iran, let alone what goes on, or not, with the Boeings and Mad Dogs), but the results are very uneven.
The Boeing 707s of Saha Air and the 727s of Iranair and Iran Aseman ("Iranian Sky" in Farsi) fly day in, day out, decade in, decade out, with barely an incident (Saha lost a 707 in 2005 but with only three fatalities; and another lost two engines and suffered structural failure during climb but landed safely last year). Also true of the 747s in the country, not only Iranair's fleet of 1x -100, 2x -200 and 4x SP, but also original Continental and TWA 747-100s from 1970, bought by the Shah in 1974, which still fly as freighters, air-to-air refuellers, and pax aircraft, in hybrid Saha / Iran AF livery.
The Iranian entire population are terrified of the Tupolev 154s that make up the backbone of the domestic fleet, although most of the crashes have not been directly attributed to the type:
- Iran Air Tours midair collision with a fighter jet in 93, aircraft fell into the city of Tehran
- Iran Air Tours CFIT later in the 90s
- Iran Air Tours mechanical failure on landing in Mashhad in 2006 (nosegear failed, aircraft off runway)
- Caspian Air Lines explosion in the tail resulting in a vertical dive from altitude; probably caused by munitions in cargo
- a crash on the runway at Mashhad after attempting to land below minima (medical emergency onboard adding to press-on-itis).
Add to that the tragic Aria crash of an Il-62M in Mashhad last year.
However the Fokker 100, a reliable and well-loved type in other parts of the world, has a terrible record in Iran, with three or four write-offs in Iranair service, mostly due to icing. However it is also worth noting that there have been no fatalities in any of the F-100 accidents, and thank god, that remains the case with this latest accident in Tabriz.