Firm News

Iranian Plane Crash Black Boxes Recovered

Posted on Jul 22, 2009

Caspian Airlines' flight 7908 "black boxes" have been recovered. The Russian made, Tupolev 154M jet crashed 16 minutes after takeoff in northern Iran while in route to Armenia. All 168 aboard were killed.

The so called "black boxes" include the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorders (FDR). The CVR and the FDRs will be key in determining the cause of the crash which remains unknown. CVRs and the FRDs are built to survive crashes and intense fires such as this one. They record a plane's performance, such as air speed and altitude, as well as communications between the cockpit crew and with air traffic controllers on the ground.

Witnesses reported that the tail of the jet seemed to be on fire. The engines of the Tu-154M are located in the rear of the airplane. Other reports said that it appeared that the pilot was circling with the landing gear dow in search of a place to make an emergency landing. The commercial jet crashed nose first, plowing a long trench into fields outside the village of Jannat Abad, in northwestern Iran.

A team of Russian air accidents experts are investigating the crash.

The crash of Caspian Airlines' flight 7908, is included in a string of air disasters in recent years that have indicated Iran's problems maintaining it's aging fleet of commercial aircraft. Iranian airlines include private and state run airlines. Both are chronically strapped for cash and in turn, the fleet's maintenance has suffered as a result.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran that prevents the airlines from updating their 30 plus year old American aircraft. Instead Iranian airlines have come to rely upon Russian aircraft. Many of these planes date back to the Soviet-era and parts are diddicult to find due to the Soviet Union's demise.

It was reported that the Tu-154M that crashed was built in 1987 and was bought by Iran in 1998. It was also reported to have an "overhaul certificate" valid until 2010. "Overhaul Certificate" is not a term used by American and most European aviation experts. It is not clear at this time exactly what the maintenance records of the aircraft will show.

The crash is Iran's worst since February 2003, when a Russian-made Ilyushin 76 carrying members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in the mountains of southeastern Iran. That crash killed all 302 people aboard. That crash was a sign of how maintenance problems have persisted with the Iranian airlines.

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