Passenger plane down in Sharjah UAE?

[matspart3]

Just heard on BBC radio...breaking news...no further details

[angels]

They're picking up from Reuters. This ran at 0842 zulu.


Plane crashes near UAE airport - police

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A plane crashed near Sharjah airport in the Gulf state of the United Arab Emirates, police and witnesse said.
It was not immediately clear how many passenger were on board the plane or which airline it belonged to. The UAE's news agency WAM said the plane was a Kish Airlines flight from Iran while other sources said it was a Russian cargo plane.

Edited to add they've just flashed that there were 60 pax on board. Source is a government official.

More here.

Plane crashes in UAE airport - police

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, Feb 10 (Reuters) - An Iranian Kish Airlines plane with at least 60 passengers on board crashed on Tuesday during take-off from Sharjah airport in the Gulf state of the United Arab Emirates, UAE officials said.
Witnesses said ambulances were rushing to and from the scene but it was not immediately how many passengers were killed.
"The plane crashed near the tarmac. Police have sealed off the area to allow rescue operations," said one witness.
Earlier, security sources had said the plane was a Russian cargo jet with 35 passengers on board. The type of plane was not clear.

[AI1]

has any one got more info about the aircraft crash in sharjah, possible registration ETNCA????(aircraft maybe a leased one)

[under_exposed]

The BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3475081.stm) now has it. They mention survivors.

[ACE Dispatcher]

Heard reports that the aircraft is a Fokker 50 belonging to Kish Air.
All flights are diverting to Dubai at this time...

Brgds ACE

[Shore Guy]

Iranian airliner crashes in UAE
Plane with about 60 aboard crashes shortly after takeoff
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:18 a.m. ET Feb. 10, 2004
SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates - An Iranian airliner with about 60 people aboard crashed Tuesday shortly after taking off from Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates, according to local television reports that showed flaming wreckage and rescue helicopters landing near the scene.
There was word of survivors aboard the Kish Air plane, according to Sharjah television, which reported that 49 passengers plus a child were on board. The number of crew wasn't clear.
Mehdi Mehranpour, deputy managing director of Iran's national carrier, Iran Air, said the plane belonged to Kish Air, a separate Iranian company. Kish Air officials could not immediately be reached.
Speaking to The Associated Press in the Iranian capital of Tehran, Mehranpour said the airliner was a Fokker 50, which can carry about 60 people, and that it had crashed in a populated area near Sharjah airport.
The Sharjah television report had said the crash area was uninhabited area.
In the television footage, flames were visible from the front of the plane, which appeared not to be intact. The plane's tail section could be seen and no fire were seen in that area on the television footage. Other indiscernible debris could be seen smoking on the ground.
Iran has a history of air accidents, often blamed on badly maintained planes. In June, an Iranian military C-130 transport plane crashed outside Tehran, killing all seven people on board. In February, a Russian-made Ilyushin-76 crashed in southeastern Iran, killing all 275 aboard.
In Belarus in September, a Tupolev-154 belonging to Kish Air on a Tehran-Minsk-Copenhagen went off course while making its landing approach at the Minsk-2 airport, striking trees which caused serious damage to the plane's wings. None of the 40 people aboard were hurt.
In 1995, an Iranian flight attendant hijacked a Kish Air Boeing 707 to Israel during a flight from Tehran. The plane was returned to Tehran with 174 passengers and crew.

[ramsrc]

That could be EP-LCA - A Fokker 50 with Kish Air.

However, I stress that this is a guess based on the possible registration above.

[Coastrider26]

Well from the apron or following the Kish Air F-50's they look pretty sharp as far as you could judge on the outside i'd say they're pretty well maintained. then again it doesn't say that much ofcourse.

All the strength to the family of the crew and pax in the coming period

[hailstone]

went down outside the perimeter fence.
apparantly at least 3 survivors.
local media bases its reports on BBC sources

[ACE Dispatcher]

Flight number was IRK7176 to Gheshm as amazingly the Sharjah Airport Departures board shows the flight status as "crashed"!

The flight was suppose to departure at 06:00...but was delayed.
http://www.shj-airport.gov.ae/cgi-bin/fids/fids?66

P.S. The link takes a while to load

[noisy]

Sky news is showing an intact tail fin section of a Fokker 50 or maybe an F-27: reg is EP-LCA

later: it's an F-50

http://airliners.net/open.file?id=234162&WxsIERv=Rm9ra2VyIDUw&WdsYXMg=S2lzaCBBaXI%3D&QtODMg=RHViYWkgLSBJbnRlcm5hdGlvbmFsIChEWEIgLyBPTURCKQ%3D%3D&ERDLTkt=VW5pdGVkIEFyYWIgRW1pcmF0ZXM%3D&ktODMp=TWFyY2ggMjAwMg%3D%3D&BP=0&WNEb25u=WWFrZnJlYWsgLSBWQVA%3D&xsIERvdWdsY=RVAtTENB&MgTUQtODMgKE=&YXMgTUQtODMgKERD=NjUy&NEb25uZWxs=MjAwMi0wNS0wOA%3D%3D&ODJ9dvCE=&O89Dcjdg=&static=yes&size=M

:(

[Desert Nomad]

Too many conflicting reports flying around everywhere to be sure of what has actually happened yet. Flight was inbound to SHJ and crashed outside the airfield area. Some reports saying close to a supermarket in a residential area.

Whatever the facts it's a tragedy and thoughts go to family and friends of those affected. I certainly hope the services were up to the task.

Having flown Kish Air, all be it 5 or so years ago, I am only surprised this had not happened sooner. It had to be one of the scariest flights ever with old eqipment that was falling apart. Let us hope that some good comes of this and more stringent measures are put into place in all countries on certifying the airworthiness of aircraft.

[AI1]

Yes it is the Fokker - 50. u can see it on the tail section which is undamaged. apparently the flight was from Qeshm an Iranian island, a free zone. so the strict iranian rules do not apply here. crashed on approach between the emirates of Sharjah and Ajman. was scheduled to land at sharjah. unconfirmed reports speak of 2 survivors. the aircraft crashed in an industrial area. it is a populated area, but fortunately no casualities on ground.reports say the aircraft crashed close to a road. the 2 survivors are now in sharjah Al Qasimi Hospital. emergency services responded quickly and are still there. bodies are being recovered.
the flight was apparently a visa change flight. for details refer the following links

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=108871
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=108872

[Wirraway]

Reuters

Plane crashes in UAE
Tue 10 February, 2004 09:58

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) - An Iranian Kish Airline plane carrying 40 passengers, including a child, has crashed near Sharjah airport in the Gulf state of the United Arab Emirates.

Witnesses said at least 25 people were killed, but UAE's official news agency WAM said there were survivors and a doctor at a Sharjah hospital said they had received one body and three injured passengers.

The agency said the plane crashed as it was landing from Sharjah at 11.00 a.m. (7 a.m. British time). It fell between Sharjah and the neighbouring emirate of Ajman. Earlier, security sources said the plane had crashed during take off.

In Iran, an official from the semi-private Kish Airline said the plane was a Dutch-made Fokker-50, a twin-engined turboprop plane which can carry 50 passengers and six crew.

Witnesses said only flaming bits and pieces remained of the plane, adding rescue teams were searching the site.

"Only a bit of the tail remained. It doesn't look like many people survived," one witness said.

"The plane crashed near the tarmac. Police have sealed off the area to allow rescue operations," she added.

Kish Airline runs domestic and some short-haul international routes to and from Iran's Kish Island in the Gulf.

Kish Island is a designated free trade zone and Iran is trying to promote it as a tourist destination. The UAE-Kish route is popular with immigrant workers in the UAE who need to renew their residence papers/work permits.

Iranian airlines have been plagued by air crashes in recent years which aviation experts blame on its ageing and out-dated fleet of planes. U.S. sanctions mean Iranian companies have difficulty obtaining spare parts for their aircraft.

A Russian built Ilyushin-76M/MD military transport aircraft crashed in southern Iran last February killing all 276 military personnel aboard.

==========================================

[Volume]

"Iran has a history of air accidents, often blamed on badly maintained planes" :yuk:
It´s all so easy to blame it on the poor countries or cheap airlines bad maintenance from the very first moment after an accident.
Don´t forget the worst crash of an Iran airplane was caused by an U.S. rocket fired from a warship !
Maybe the wrong moment to be angry about the press, should better express my thoughts with the ones hurt or killed :ugh:

[Airbubba]

>>It´s all so easy to blame it on the poor countries or cheap airlines bad maintenance from the very first moment after an accident.<<

You're right, the possibility of pilot error must be considered, particularly with third world airlines.

[Anti-ice]

Should one speculate on a tenuous link between this tragedy, and the Luxair F50 which crashed at around the same phase on finals ???

[Major Attack]

One should not speculate at all at this early stage!

Condolencies to all.

[Joles]

My sympathies and prayers with the families of those who passed away and those who are battling for their lives.

Just a small correction Ace, I went to the site and THIS is what is says
"10-Feb 08:30 Kish island Kish air IRK 7171 Cxld "

Cxld - I presume stands for cancelled

As is the wont, bad press spews forth :
Read what an Indian site Sify.com had to post
Quote

Tuesday, 10 February , 2004, 21:55

Sharjah: Indian expatriate workers, who travel in low priced flights like Kish Air to change visas, say the short journey of 40 minutes to Kish is "tedious and scary".
Subash Menon, an Indian resident who travelled to Kish recently for exit and re-entry into UAE said his experience on board was really "scary".
Menon, who had gone to Sharjah airport yesterday morning to change visa, said "I took the boarding pass at 0630 hrs (local time) and the flight was scheduled to leave for Kish at 0800 hrs from Sharjah airport, but it did not take off until around 0900 hrs," he said.
"Finally, when I went to the counter and asked about the delay, no one was able to explain the delay. Neither did they have any ideas about the expected time of departure," he was quoted by the Sharjah-based The Gulf Today newspaper as saying.
"Finally, we took off for Kish by around 1030 hrs," Menon said.
The service on board was "horrible," he added Kish Air provides a free one-night stay for all passengers at the Kish Island's major hotel, Farabi Hotel.

Describing the accommodation, Ubaid Ahmed, a Pakistan national working in Dubai, said " The accommodation is dormitory style.
Four to five people share one room." Mr Menon added that the hotel charges Dhs 30 daily, with free breakfast.
"The hotel takes its share out of the Dhs 1,000 we had to deposit with Kish Air before landing on the island," he added.
"Low income expatriates and job hunters mainly travel to Kish to change their visas," said Arif Asif, an official with a manpower consulting firm in Sharjah.
"Many of these people are desperate for jobs and are willing to work for anything you offer," said Asif.
Kish Air runs domestic and some short-haul international routes to and from Iran's Kish Island in the Gulf. The Kish Island is a designated free trade zone and Iran is trying to promote it as a tourist destination. "Kish is a favorite destination for visa changes because tickets are cheap and foreigners do not need visas to visit the island," said an official with a travel agency in Sharjah.
Such flights are normally used by Asian workers, including Indians, Pakistanis and Filipinos, who make up the bulk of UAE's expatriate work force.
He added that there are hundreds who switch jobs in the UAE but have to fly out to re-enter the country on new work visas.
"There are still others who arrive in the UAE on visit visas and get jobs. But they again have to make this trip to Kish to return on a work visa. This rule applies to all the emirates," he said.
He added that it would be much easier if the UAE authorities allowed the visa change in the country itself for a fee adding "we can avoid accidents like this." Kish Air has three daily flights from Sharjah to Kish.
It runs Fokker-50 turbo-prop planes for the 40-minute trip to the island.
Mohammed Abdullah, who works with a travel agency in Sharjah, said these visa-change flights are basically air ferry services.
Many are "no-stop" or "U-turn" flights.
He said there are visa change flights from Sharjah airport to Muscat, which just touch the runway and then takes off.
This flight costs about Dhs190 while the fare to Kish is Dhs260 to 280 besides accommodation charges.
"People do fly to other destination such as Doha and Bahrain to change visas," he said.
"It's costly too. A round-trip from Sharjah to Bahrain puts you back by Dhs 330. Sharjah - Doha fares are Dhs 400," he added.
With three daily flights, Kish Air ferries up to 5,400 people to Kish for visa changes every month.
Most of the people at Sharjah airport told The Gulf Today that Kish Air officials did not cooperate with them when inquires were made about the accident.
UNQUOTE

Condolences to the bereaved families

Rgds
Joles

More details also on the pax

Source : Sify.com

Quote
UAE plane crash:12 Indians among 44 dead


Tuesday, 10 February , 2004, 15:01

Sharjah: Forty-four people died and two survived when an Iranian plane crashed and burst into flames Tuesday narrowly missing a crowded residential area in the United Arab Emirates, police said.
"All casualties are from the plane," operated by Kish Airlines, said Colonel Saleh Ali al-Mutawa, chief of police in the southern Gulf emirate of Sharjah.

The dead comprised 19 Iranians, 12 Indians, four Egyptians, two Filipinos, two Algerians, one Bangladeshi, one Chinese, one Nigerian, one Syrian and one other person.

The survivors were two males, both in critical condition, police said. Sharjah's state-run television reported that one of the males was a "miracle" child. Four women and two children were among the dead, police said.

About 20 bodies, some wrapped in blankets and others charred inside transparent plastic bags lay on the ground near the wreckage waiting to be loaded onto a Dubai civil defense vehicle, alongside another estimated 20 bodies already on the truck.

The fuselage, broken into several parts, smouldered in the background where emergency workers sifted through the wreckage of the Dutch-built Fokker 50 turboprop.

The television said there were two explosions after the plane hit the ground. It had earlier shown pictures of several bodies in dramatic footage of the burning aircraft.

One crumpled body lay several yards from the wreck, another broken among smashed seats. Rescue workers wearing surgical masks over their mouths battled through thick black smoke as firemen doused the wreckage with water hoses.

Only the blue tail section of the white aircraft, registration EP-LCA, bearing the company logo of a stylised red bird against a yellow sun, rose above the wreckage.

"The plane was coming in to land" at about 11:40 (0740 GMT), a security official at Sharjah international airport told AFP.

The flight had come from Iran's Gulf island of Kish when it went down in an open area sandwiched between the villas of a crowded residential zone about four kilometres from the airport.

In Teheran, an official Iranian statement said there were 39 passengers, including 12 Iranians and 27 of other nationalities, and six crew aboard the Fokker as it attempted an emergency landing.

"This morning a Fokker 50 aircraft of Kish Air left the airport of Kish for Sharjah. Near the airport (of Sharjah) it asked to make an emergency landing, veered to the left and crashed," the Iranian civil aviation authority statement said, quoted by the student news agency ISNA.

But Sharjah airport authority chief Ghanem al-Hajiri said the plane had not radioed any distress signal.

"Everthing was normal up to the time of the crash," he told reporters. "The UAE civil aviation authority is investigating the incident now and has taken over the site," which was cordoned off.

Kish Airlines operates daily flights across the Gulf and is used particularly by Iranian tourists and Asian workers who have to leave the Emirates briefly to obtain new visas.

The company, according to its website operates four Fokker 50s, and four of the larger three-jet Tupolev 154Ms of Soviet origin.

On September 6, one of the airline's Tupolevs crashed after hitting a tree when it tried to land in heavy fog at Minsk, Belarus, but none of the nearly 40 people aboard were injured, according to airport authorities at the time.

Kish, which contains a duty-free zone and is considered more liberal than the rest of Iran, lies 18 kilometres off the southern Iranian coast and 200 kilometres from Dubai.

UNQUOTE

[reynoldsno1]

Just a small correction Ace, I went to the site and THIS is what is says

10-Feb
06:00
Gheshm
Kish air
IRK 7176
Crashed

[View From The Ground]

Have just checked does indeed say crashed......an accurate but I am sure upsetting statement for anyone who has relatives on board.

[Vagrant]

"You're right, the possibility of pilot error must be considered, particularly with third world airlines.".....Airbubba

Thanx for reminding us that we are more fallible than our first world colleagues, I had forgotten.

Third world vagrant

[vunzke]

This site woul be much more "professional" if we all stuck to factual things rather than vent any feelings about any pilots or procedures from any company anywhere. Ehy do we spend 70% of the time venting unfounded feelings towards collegues or fellow companies without any facts to back these ideas up.

Lets keep this site "professional"

My thoughts are with all the families of those who were affected by this tragedy. May they find the strenght to overcome the grief.....without anyone adding to that grief by unfounded statements....

[CargoOne]

My collegue at SHJ, who visited crash site, said that rumors around indicating inflight engine failure (on final approach I understand) with the following failure of propeller blade feathering system and subsequent lost of control. Just rumors.

Condolencies to all.

[Coastrider26]

I agree with a couple of other people. Indeed it is a 3rd world carrier. However remember all the first world "gossip" about airlines as Southwest, Easyjet how they had to cut back on maintenance to offer the tickets for their prices.

At the end of the day the most of us still are simple pilots and not crash examiners. People look up to us as (airline)pilots to get them home safely. These same people look at how we discriminate here, not to say about other people looking for news on this site i.e. reporters.

<personal note>
I think it is safe to say the F50 suffered an engine faillure and that we have to look if the procedures have been followed, if there was an bird strike, negative autofeather etc etc.
</personal note>

[Joles]

I do agree about keeping this site professional.
To quote " we are all pilots and not crash examiners "
" people rely on us to get us home safely "

Interestingly, I wonder if you consider Khazakhistan First World or Third World. There was a mid-air collision over New Delhi some years ago with a Saudi linerThe worst actual midair collision to date occurred in 1996 when a Saudi Arabian Airlines 747 collided with a Kazakh-owned cargo jet near New Delhi, India, killing 349.

And do you know what was quoted as the cause of the crash ?
" An inability by the pilot of the KHazakh plane to interpret the ATC commands in English !!!"

Read what CNN had to say on July 4, 2002 very carefully.
We all go through the SAME motions everytime we hear of a crash on this site !

QUOTE :

Tuesday morning's crash over the Swiss-German border took place at what Eckes describes as "a crossroads of the sky."

The area near Lake Konstanz marks the intersection of some of the world's busiest air corridors as well as being at the frontier of German, Swiss and Austrian air traffic control.

Standard aviation rules dictate that aircraft traveling across the same territory in different directions fly at different altitudes.

Aviation experts say in the case of the two aircraft involved in Tuesday's collision the distance separating them should not have been less than 600 meters (2,000 feet).

What caused them to break that limit will be the focus of the investigation.

Human factor
One possibility is that instructions from ground controllers were misinterpreted or were simply incorrect.

Eckes says that initial reports on the crash indicate that this human factor was the most likely cause of the crash, as has been the case with previous collisions and near misses.

Another possible factor may have been the handover from one country's air-traffic controllers to another -- a consideration that Eckes says could focus attention on Europe's extremely fragmented air space.


Aside from the human error possibility another consideration will be on the technical capabilities and their functioning on the two aircraft.

Many modern aircraft are fitted with a collision avoidance system known as TCAS, which can automatically pull the plane off collision-course or sound an alarm alerting pilots and telling them which way to turn.

However, although mandatory in many Western countries, TCAS is only slowly being retrofitted onto older aircraft and is not required on Russian-owned aircraft.

Eckes says the only way to ensure mid-air collisions do not occur is for all aircraft to be fitted with TCAS -- and even then the possibility remains that technical problems or poor maintenance will cause the equipment to fail.

[Coastrider26]

The latest gossip here in the UAE is that the aircraft was all over the ILS L/R above/below glideslope, some people came up with a story of a cabin fire (I don't know if this was from a survivor, ATCO or whatever) According to the gossip the fumes spread to the cockpit.

The gossip doesn't mention if the fire was caused by maintenance or an pax smoking a thick cigar.

[swish266]

U don't know s--t about TCAS.
And could u pls keep yr ignorance to yrself - all a/c flying in Europe in RVSM airspace, no matter if dey are made in ole Santa's shop or operated by the Almighty himself need to have a TCAS installed...
Basically Russian jets r better flyers than Western types. Ask me, I 've flown most of them plus B735 plus B762/763...

[Joles]

Hey Swish ,
I do agree.
If you notice I mentioned I was quoting a CNN article of July 2002 !

Your update on the TCAS is valid.
What's the latest news ladies and gentlemen ?

[Dash8100]

DUBAI, March 2 (AFP) - An Iranian Kish Airlines plane crashed,
killing 43 people, after the engines went into reverse and the pilot
lost control coming into land, the civil aviation authority said
here Tuesday.
€ "The engines went into reverse which would have made it
impossible to control" the Fokker 50 twin-turboprop aircraft as it
approached the international airport in the neighbouring emirate of
Sharjah on February 10, said a statement carried by the official WAM
news agency.
€ It did not say if the pilot put the engines into reverse or not,
promising "more details at the end of the inquiry."
€ The flight had come from Iran's Gulf island of Kish when it went
down in an open area between the villas of a crowded residential
zone about two miles (nearly four kilometres) from the airport, on
the border between Sharjah and Ajman, another emirate in the
seven-member UAE federation.
€ Only three of the 46 people on board survived the crash.
€ tm/bp/mb
€AFP 021307 GMT MAR 04

[spuis]

The manufacturer has also issued an all operator message stating that preliminary FDR and CVR recordings point into the direction of the reverse blade angle of the props.
This was also the case in the luxair crash.
Further similarities, if any, will come forward as the investigation progresses.


Spuis

[minimumclean]

Here something from CNN.....it indeed looks like a second luxair.....

Death crash plane 'in reverse'
Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Posted: 7:28 AM EST (1228 GMT)


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The propellers of an Iranian plane inexplicably went into reverse minutes before it crashed last month, killing 46 people, the civil aviation authorities in the United Arab Emirates said Tuesday.

"Instead of the propellers going forward, they were going in reverse, which is an abnormal situation in flight," Mohammed Ghanem al-Ghaith, the director of the General Civil Aviation Authority told reporters.

"We cannot tell whether it was a human or technical factor," he said of the malfunction. He said a pilot of a turboprop Fokker-50 would put the propellers into reverse while the plane is taxi-ing on the ground, but never in flight.

The Kish Air plane crashed in an open area about two miles from Sharjah airport on February 10, killing 46 people of the 49 passengers and crew onboard. The plane was flying to Sharjah from the Iranian island of Kish in the Gulf.

The three survivors -- an Iranian, Egyptian and a Filipino -- remain in hospital.

Al-Ghaith said the preliminary examination of the plane's cockpit voice recorder revealed "normal conversation." He repeated earlier reports that the pilots did not send out an emergency call.

In a statement Tuesday, the General Civil Aviation Authority said the plane "appears to have operated normally until about two-and-a-half miles (three kilometers) from the end of runway 12 at Sharjah International Airport."

The plane suddenly embarked on a nose dive and turned left before crashing, the statement said.

Al-Ghaith said the investigation was continuing.

The plane was 11 years old. Kish Air bought it in 2002.

Kish Air officials in Iran, where Tuesday was a national holiday, did not answer their office or mobile phones.

:uhoh:

[Dash8100]

The probable cause of these two Fokker 50 accidents; is it likely that the same thing could happen to the engines of a Dash 8-100 (I'm travelling a lot on these machines...)

[lomapaseo]

Now I am really confused:*

between the speculation and the plethora of out of date and up to date news articles, I can't tell if its factual or just plain speculation that the engines for this latest crash went into reverse.

My experience tells me that only an investigator who has examined the prop blades on this machine or who has read out the Flight recorder can draw such a conclusion.

I don't mind the speculation or inferences but I sure wish that the posters would clarify fact from speculation.

[85882]

Well, I found pictures from the same airline, the same aircraft and the same region but this was on February 28, 2004 :confused: But registration number is different. ;)

http://airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=EP-LCA&distinct_entry=true

[punkalouver]

The accident report has been out for a while.

http://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/677.pdf

It was a nice sunny day. It appears that the captain handed control over to the F/O at 2500' on descent. The F/O did not want to fly the approach saying that he didn't have the same experience as the captain and that he was not confident about his own ability to fly this approach(which was odd because he had 2400 hrs PIC on C-130's).

The captain insisted that the F/O fly the approach. The F/O positioned the aircraft high on approach less than 3 nm from the threshold at least 50 knots above ref speed while not configured for landing.

The captain took control of the aircraft to configure, with the flaps and gear coming down above their limiting speed.

In order to prevent selection of reverse thrust or less than flight idle blade angle in flight, there are two protections. The first is an always fixed mechanical stop, which is where the power levers stop when they are moved fully aft in flight(closing the power levers). The power levers can be moved aft of this stop by lifting the levers up and over this stop as is normally done on landing. There is a secondary protection which is a solenoid operated stop which is designed to only be available in flight in order to prevent intentional movement of the power levers into reverse(or anywhere in the ground control range with its corresponding lower blade angles) in flight. This stop is removed once on the ground allowing ground blade angles (such as reverse).

There is slight movement(by design apparently) aft of the mechanical stop to reach the solenoid stop allowing a slight increase in drag. Therefore according to hearsay, pilots had been known to intentionally lift the power levers and move them aft of the mechanical stop to the solenoid stop on occasion. This activity was prohibited.

There was a known abnormality in the secondary solenoid stop system(not a certification requirement when the aircraft was designed by the way) where it was deactivated for 16 seconds after the gear was selected down. An airworthiness directive with a future compliance date(to modify the system) had been issued after a well publicized incident to the same type being operated by Luxair. The Kish Airlines plane was unmodified at the time.

When the Captain selected the power levers aft of the mechanical stop soon after gear down selection, the prop blades moved rapidly into an undetermined ground range blade angle resulting in a rapid aircraft pitchdown.
The power levers were rapidly moved forward in an effort to correct the situation. One prop moved slowly to the flight range but the other stayed in full reverse to impact.

The report says that a CVR transcript is attached but it is not available from this link. If anyone has the transcript, please post.