On 8 February 1993,

Iran Air Tours Iran Airtour ( fa, ایران ایرتور, ''Iran Airtur'') is an airline based in Tehran, Iran. Iran Airtour's hubs are at Mehrabad International Airport and Mashhad International Airport. In total, the group has 11 aircraft in service. It o ...

Flight 962, a

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

, collided in mid-air with an

Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force , patron = , motto = , "Skyhigh is my place" , colours = Ultramarine blue , colours_label = , march = , mascot ...

(IRIAF)

Sukhoi Su-24 The Sukhoi Su-24 ( NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, twin-engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for its crew of two. It wa ...

attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pre ...

near the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian capital of

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 ...

, killing all 133 people aboard both aircraft. It is the deadliest aviation incident in 1993.

Aircraft

Iran Air Tours Flight 962

Flight 962, with 119 passengers and 12 crew on board, departed from runway 29R at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport on a non-scheduled domestic flight to Mashhad International Airport in Mashhad. The aircraft was flown by an unnamed Russian captain who had 12,000 flight hours (the information on the remaining flight crew is unknown). After takeoff, the aircraft was instructed to climb to .

Sukhoi Su-24

At the same time, five IRIAF Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jets were approaching Mehrabad's runway 29L using visual flight rules (VFR). They would later perform special maneuvers for the Iranian Revolution Commemoration Ceremony. The fighter jets flew in a westerly heading and were placed at an altitude of by Mehrabad air traffic controller (ATC) Faramarz Sarvi.

Collision

Flight 962 was climbing at the direction of runway 29R, and at the same time the five Su-24s were descending to land on runway 29L. All five of them were separated one mile apart. One of the Su-24s, piloted by a crew of two pilots, turned left four miles west of the tower but did not have enough visibility as it was performing a go around. At this point, Flight 962 was nearing the Sukhoi fighter. Flight 962 and the Su-24 did not obtain visual sight of each other. At about 14:16

IRST An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. IR ...

, the two aircraft collided in mid-air; the rear engine and the tail of the Tupolev aircraft were torn off, and the flight crew lost control of the aircraft. Both aircraft crashed into an army depot at the town of Shahr-e Qods, near Tehransar, about from Mehrabad. All 131 people aboard the Iran Air Tours airliner and both military pilots died.

Investigation

Investigators determined that the pilot of Flight 962 correctly followed ATC instructions. Iran's Civil Aviation Authority concluded that the causes of the collision were: errors made by the military pilots of the Sukhoi Su-24 and air traffic controller error. The primary causes were: # The air traffic controller's decision allowed Flight 962 to climb while the Sukhoi Su-24s were descending. # The controller failed to inform Flight 962 about the Sukhoi Su-24s entering their airspace. # Failure to notify the military pilots about take-off of a Tupolev at the same time as the Sukhoi turns left. # The controller did not express any concerns about the distance between the two aircraft. # The Sukhoi pilots failed to maintain the altitude as requested by the ATC, which caused the collision of the two aircraft.

References