Israel Matzav

Breaking: Iran Air crash with 95 passengers and 10 crew on board

An Iran Air Boeing 727 has crashed in Azerbaijan. The Iranians are claiming that at least 50 of the 105 people on board have survived.

"So far no reports of death have been reported to me," emergency services head Gholam Reza Masoumi told Fars news agency. "But 50 injured people out of the 105 on board have come out of the plane alive."

The Iran Air plane crashed near the northwestern city of Orumiyeh at around 7:45 pm (1615 GMT), an official in West Azerbaijan province said, quoted on state television's website.

"The airplane took off an hour later than scheduled time from Tehran towards Orumiyeh and because of bad weather conditions came down in a village area near Orumiyeh," the unidentified official said.

Fars said 105 people were believed to be on board, while the aircraft was a US-built Boeing 727, according to ISNA. A third news agency, ILNA, gave a breakdown of 95 passengers and 10 crew members.

Masoumi said the rescue operation was being hampered by bad weather.

"The problem at the moment for rescue work is the heavy snow, which is around 70 centimetres (more than two feet) deep around the crash site," Fars quoted Masoumi as saying.

State news agency IRNA reported that bad weather around Orumiyeh had earlier led to the cancellation of two flights from Tehran on Sunday.

My first reaction to this is to blame the sanctions. When was the last time you flew in a 727? It's probably been 20 years for me. And in fact, I may be right.

As of August 2010[update], 398 Boeing 727 aircraft (all variants) were in commercial airline service.[18] Most airlines have small numbers but the following operated ten or more aircraft:[18]

* FedEx Express (75)
* Astar Air Cargo (26)
* Capital Cargo International Airlines (14)
* Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter (13)
* Cargojet Airways (12)
* AeroSur (10)

The last 727 involved in a crash was a Congolese one a year ago last week. The previous one was in 2003. Here's the most famous 727 flight:

In 1971, Northwest Airlines Flight 305 was hijacked by passenger D. B. Cooper while en route from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. After receiving a payment of $200,000 and four parachutes when he was in Seattle, he told the pilots to fly to Mexico, and jumped out of the aircraft from the aft airstairs over Washington or Oregon. Cooper's fate is unknown.

In any event, it's clear to me that were it not for sanctions on Iran, Iran Air would not be flying Boeing 727's as passenger jets, and were it not for sanctions they would at least have spare parts to service them properly.

Labels: Boeing 727, Iran Air, Orumiyeh, Tehran

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:01 PM