Fath Air Base is a military airfield near

Karaj Karaj ( fa, کرج, ) is the capital of Alborz Province, Iran, and effectively a satellite city of Tehran. Although the county hosts a population around 1.97 million, as recorded in the 2016 census, most of the county is rugged mountain. The urb ...

, Alborz Province, Iran.

Location

Fath Air Base is located near

, Alborz Province, Iran. It is assigned the

ICAO airport code The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-letter code designating aerodromes around the world. These codes, as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization and published in ICAO Document 7910: ''Location Indicators'', a ...

OIIF. The airport is at an elevation of and has an asphalt runway, long, designated 13/31,. It is mainly used as a base for helicopters of the Helicopter Training Squadron, Attack Helicopter Squadron and Training & Recce Helicopter Squadron of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force.

Accidents and incidents

On 14 January 2019, a Boeing 707 of

Saha Airlines Saha Airlines ( fa, هواپیمایی ساها) is an Iranian Airline based in Tehran that operates scheduled domestic flights. History The company was established in 1990 as Saha Airliness and is wholly owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran ...

overran the runway on landing, killing fifteen of the sixteen people on board. It was reported that the aircraft should have landed at

Payam International Airport Payam Airport ( fa, فرودگاه پیام) is an international airport located in Karaj, from Tehran, in the Alborz Province of Iran. The airport was established in 1990, but was not opened officially until 1997. Payam Aviation Services Co. ...

but landed at Fath in error. Payam is located 10.9 kilometres (5.9 nmi) northwest of Fath Air Base. A crash was avoided in a similar incident on 16 November 2018, when a

Taban Air Taban Air ( fa, هواپیمایی تابان, ''Hevapimaii-ye Taban''), officially known as Taban Airlines, is an airline headquartered in the Ekbatan Complex in Tehran, Iran, with its main operational base in Mashhad. It operates international ...

lines

MD-88 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

carrying 155 people twice attempted to land on this runway, mistaking it for a longer 3,659-metre (12,005 ft) runway at

, which is nearly inline but 11 km away. The first approach was aborted at 11:26 hours and the aircraft circled for another attempt. The second approach was aborted at 11:29 and the aircraft continued for a safe landing at Payam Airport at 11:31. AAID Iran reported that the flight reached an altitude of 1 m above ground level during one of the approaches. The MD-88 requires a minimum of approximately 1,500 m of runway to land safely, 500 m more than the 981 m runway at Fath Air Base.

References

{{authority control Iranian airbases Airports in Iran