Iran Air Flight 277 was a scheduled
Iran Air
The National Airline of Iran ( fa, هواپیمايی ملی ایران, Havâpeymâyi-ye Melli-ye Irân), branded as Iran Air, is the flag carrier of Iran, which is headquartered at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. As of 2018, it operates scheduled ...
flight from
Mehrabad International Airport
Mehrabad International Airport ( fa, فرودگاه بین المللی مهرآباد, ''Foroudgâh-e Beyn Almelali-ye Mehrâbâd'') , is an international airport serving Tehran, the capital city of Iran. Prior to the construction of the larger ...
,
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
to
Urmia
Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an alt ...
, Iran. On January 9, 2011, the
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...
serving the flight crashed after an aborted approach to
Urmia Airport
Urmia Shahid Bakeri International Airport ( fa, فرودگاه بینالمللی شهید باکری ارومیه) is an airport serving the Central District of Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran.
Airlines and destinations
Ac ...
in poor weather. Of the 105 people on board, 78 were killed. The official investigation concluded that
icing conditions
In aviation, icing conditions are atmospheric conditions that can lead to the formation of water ice on an aircraft. Ice accretion and accumulation can affect the external surfaces of an aircraft – in which case it is referred to as ''airframe ...
and incorrect engine management by the crew led to a double engine
flame-out, loss of altitude and impact with the ground.
Accident
Flight 277 had taken off from
Mehrabad International Airport
Mehrabad International Airport ( fa, فرودگاه بین المللی مهرآباد, ''Foroudgâh-e Beyn Almelali-ye Mehrâbâd'') , is an international airport serving Tehran, the capital city of Iran. Prior to the construction of the larger ...
, Tehran, at 18:15
local time
Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
(15:15
UTC), more than two hours later than scheduled because of poor weather at the destination.
At around 19:00 local time (16:00 UTC), while on approach to Urmia Airport, the crew initiated a
missed approach
Missed approach is a procedure followed by a pilot when an instrument approach cannot be completed to a full-stop landing. The instructions for the missed approach may be assigned by air traffic control (ATC) prior to the clearance for the approac ...
procedure and announced its intention to return to Tehran. At the time, the weather at Urmia was poor, with low clouds and of visibility in snow.
Contact with the flight was lost shortly after. The aircraft crashed near the village of
Tarmani, around south-east of Urmia Airport, breaking into multiple sections.
Of the 96 passengers and 9 crew on board, only 27 survived.
[
]
Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved in the accident was a tri-jet Boeing 727-286Adv with Iranian registration EP-IRP. Manufactured in 1974, the aircraft had spent 18 years out of service. It was impounded at Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, Iraq from 1984 to 1990, and then placed in storage from 1991 to 2002. It was then overhauled and returned to service.
The flight crew consisted of captain Fereydoun Dadras, first officer Mohammad Reza Qara Tappeh, and flight engineer Morteza Rastegar.
Casualties
Of the 105 people on board, 78 were killed (including the flight crew) and 27 survived, all with injuries. Most of the victims sustained injuries to the neck and spinal cord. In the aftermath of the crash, 36 ambulances and 11 hospitals were utilized in the rescue operations. Rescue efforts were complicated by heavy snow in the area, which was reportedly around deep at the crash site.
Investigation
Iran's Civil Aviation Authority
A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register.
Role
Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...
(CAA.IRI) opened an inquiry into the crash. The day after the accident, both the flight's cockpit voice recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(CVR) and the flight data recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(FDR) were recovered and taken to Tehran for analysis.
In 2017, CAO.IRI published its final accident report. From its analysis, it emerged that after starting its final approach
In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of ...
to Urmia Airport's runway 21 from an altitude of – Urmia Airport being at an elevation of – a navigational error by the flight crew meant that the aircraft failed to establish itself on the instrument landing system
In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...
. Descending through and having never made visual contact with the runway, the crew elected to go around
In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unsta ...
. The missed approach procedure started normally, with the aircraft climbing to .
Investigators believe the aircraft encountered severe icing conditions, which caused disruption of the airflow and loss of engine thrust. The aircraft started to descend and entered a turn that momentarily reached 41° bank angle, causing the activation of the stick shaker
A stick shaker is a mechanical device designed to rapidly and noisily vibrate the control yoke (the "stick") of an aircraft, warning the flight crew that an imminent aerodynamic stall has been detected. It is typically present on the majority of ...
. Despite application of full thrust, engines No. 1 and 3 began to run down. As the aircraft descended through , the flight engineer
A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air me ...
could be heard announcing that both engines had failed. Subsequent attempts to restart them were unsuccessful. During the last moments of the flight, flaps were retracted and the airspeed progressively decayed; at , just above terrain, the aircraft was flying at with 21° right bank. The last recorded airspeed value was . The aircraft struck terrain at above mean sea level (MSL).
The report concluded that the main causes of the accident were severe icing conditions and inappropriate actions by the flight crew. Obsolete on-board systems, absence of suitable simulators for adverse weather conditions, failure to follow standard operating procedures, and inadequate crew resource management
Crew resource management or cockpit resource management (CRM)Diehl, Alan (2013) "Air Safety Investigators: Using Science to Save Lives-One Crash at a Time." Xlibris Corporation. . http://www.prweb.com/releases/DrAlanDiehl/AirSafetyInvestigators/ ...
were cited as contributing factors.
See also
*List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
This list of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft includes notable events that have a corresponding Wikipedia article. Entries in this list involve passenger or cargo aircraft that are operating commercially and meet this list ...
References
External links
CAO.IRI – Final accident report
(in Persian)
Archived
*
{{Portal bar, Aviation, Iran
2011 in Iran
Aviation accidents and incidents in Iran
Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727
Aviation accidents and incidents in 2011
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
January 2011 events in Iran
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by ice
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by engine failure
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error