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What: Taban Air/Kolavia Tupolev TU-154 en route from Abadan to Mashad (but diverted to Isfahan due to visibility)
Where: Mashad
When: Jan 24th 2010
Who: 157 passengers and 13 crew
Why: The flight had earlier been diverted to Isfahan due to poor visibility in Mashad, and had overnighted in Isfahan. While continuing to Mashad today, a passenger became ill, but poor visibility in Mashad was still an issue. The pilot attempted to land in Mashad in low visibility conditions citing an emergency because of the critically ill passenger.
On touchdown, the plane veered from the runway, the gear landing on an unpaved surface collapsed, one wing impacted the ground and the airplane caught on fire, resulting in fire damage at the rear, where the aircraft’s three engines are mounted. The vertical fin and horizontal stabiliser are no longer attached. Both wings were sheared off. 42 were injured, no fatalities.
Iranian Disaster Management said “The plane went off the runaway upon landing and part of its rear end broke away.”
The carrier has been grounded and their certificate suspended.
More than a decade of problems with Iranian aviation has been attributed to the poor condition of their old fleet, their lack of maintenance. Now perhaps we can add weather.
