Adding to the chaos, a Ukrainian airplane with 176 people crashed after takeoff just outside Tehran on Wednesday morning, killing all on board, Iranian and Ukrainian officials said. Iran said mechanical issues were suspected, although Ukraine declined to offer a cause while an investigation continues.
The Boeing 737-800 had taken off from Imam Khomeini International Airport, bound for the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The plane carried 167 passengers and nine crew members. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said there were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians on board — the Ukrainian nationals included two passengers and the nine crew. The rest were Swedish, Afghan, German and British nationals.
The U.S. Federation Aviation Administration earlier warned of a “potential for miscalculation or mis-identification” for civilian aircraft in the Persian Gulf. The agency barred U.S. carriers from flying over areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf countries.
A bit nervous? Yes indeed.
@Tobias9122
Except this plane was just taking off. It wasn't already at 30,000 feet, it wasn't even at 8000 feet. If it was shot down whoever did it knew full well it was ascending from takeoff and not in its cruising altitude.
Iranian officials do not trust the US to do a thorough job of analysis, given the political situation of US V Iran, I don't blame them. They seem to be allowing the Ukrainians to look however, it was their plane. The suspicious thing is there were 63 Canadians onboard. And they are all dead. The Iranians could have shot down the plane themselves. Without international analysis, we will never know most likely.
There are 500 Canadian troops in Iraq.
@Mott-The-Hoople
We will probably never know one way or the other. It was suspicious on the face of it.
You on the other hand are ITCHING for war, your handlers will LOVE that.
@Duchess64
It should be noted that in the absence of any direct air travel routes between Canada and Iran, the best and economical route was through Kiev Ukraine.
Almost all the Canadians were from Iran. About 135 of the passengers were headed to Canada.
Further, speculation seems to be leaning towards flight being shot down by Iranian missile.
At under 8000ft altitude, could have been mistaken for a fighter jet amidst the tensions.
This has happened before.
Of note, July 3, 1988, USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air flight 655, an Airbus A300 while it was taking off from Iran. Mistaken for an Iranian fighter. This was in middle of Iraq Iran war.
The manifest varies quite a bit from source to source. On that I saw had 176 people, 82 Iranian, 62 Iranian-Canadian, so almost all with Iranian roots. I can't see this at all as an act by Iran, despite Ukraine claiming that some of the wreckage seen in a video showed a piece of what looked like a Russian missile that Ian has in it s arsenal.
The plane had 3 pilots of which two were captains. I suspect one captain was flying as a checker. Anyway, after reaching 8,000 feet (6 minutes) the craft made a turn around and was headed back to the airport and was seen *in flames* before it crashed.
The craft had an inspection on January 6th. Could it be sabotage? Possible.
The Iranians will not address whether or not the crew spoke with the ATC, and under the circumstances it is very likely they did speak. So what happened?
long way to go
@mghrn55 saidI think the Iranian military are just about capable of distinguishing a civilian airliner with a transponder identifying it as civilian taking off from an Iranian airport on a scheduled flight. If this was deliberate, which I think is unlikely, it would be due to the presence of the Ukrainian foreign minister. That the plane turned and reportedly attempted to return to the airport seems to indicate that they had some sort of mechanical problem. This is more likely to be due to faulty maintenance than anything else - someone did a bad job.
Further, speculation seems to be leaning towards flight being shot down by Iranian missile.
At under 8000ft altitude, could have been mistaken for a fighter jet amidst the tensions.
This has happened before.
Of note, July 3, 1988, USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air flight 655, an Airbus A300 while it was taking off from Iran. Mistaken for an Iranian fighter. This was in middle of Iraq Iran war.
@Duchess64
I said it was suspicious but some here are frothing at the mouth ultrarightwingnuts who love to jump to contusions....
That doesn't mean it WASN'T a missile attack, it just seems implausible it was Iran.
But who if it was. It could still have been a catastrophic failure. The air experts said it seemed unlikely a failure could kill the plane that fast though. Like a fire in the cargo bay, would take some time to destroy the plane. This plane had only a couple of minutes between whatever it was and the crash.
The Americans *claim* they have radar evidence that a missile was tracked going up to the craft and of the craft blowing up. But I no longer pay any attention to these ultra quick, scurrilous accusations the propagandizing American War Pigs make against its "enemies". I stopped long ago.
Witness, the US blames Iraq's Hussein for bombing a Kurdish village with sarin gas. Complete and utter BULL CRAP.
the US blames Syria for using sarin gas on its citizens. Complete and utter BULL CRAP. And the list can go on and on.
If it turns out a missile DID take out the craft where is America's proof that the Iranian military called for it?
How many chances do you give the same liars?
@deepthought saidAll military radar is primary and it is quite capable of identifying any craft in the world by its profile from any possible angle. Capital *IF* it was taken out by a missile, whoever it was knew what they were doing.
I think the Iranian military are just about capable of distinguishing a civilian airliner with a transponder identifying it as civilian taking off from an Iranian airport on a scheduled flight. If this was deliberate, which I think is unlikely, it would be due to the presence of the Ukrainian foreign minister. That the plane turned and reportedly attempted to return to ...[text shortened]... em. This is more likely to be due to faulty maintenance than anything else - someone did a bad job.
5 minutes from a major civilian international airport on a known air route. There can be no mistake. again *IF*
@earl-of-trumps saidWhat the Ukrainians are saying is that they are investigating 4 possibilities. That it was a terrorist incident (bomb on board), mid-air collision with a drone or other object (at 8,000 ft?), engine failure - presumably uncontained since a contained engine failure shouldn't do this. The forth possibility they are considering is missile strike. The BBC news report [1] which said this says they were using a Soviet era Tor system, which might account for their confusion. That Trudeau is going along with it ought to give us pause, given his relationship with Trump is seems unlikely he'd want to join in with this.
All military radar is primary and it is quite capable of identifying any craft in the world by its profile from any possible angle. Capital *IF* it was taken out by a missile, whoever it was knew what they were doing.
5 minutes from a major civilian international airport on a known air route. There can be no mistake. again *IF*
Meanwhile there's been a bus crash in Northern Iran, killing 19 people [2]. There's no indication that this is anything other than road safety problems. They aren't having much luck at the moment.
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-51055219
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-51048116