168 reportedly killed in Iran plane crash

[joeyb747]

"TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed a quarter-hour after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into a field northwest of the capital and shattering to pieces. State television said all on board were killed."

"Caspian Airlines is a Russian-Iranian joint venture founded in 1993. Iran has frequent plane crashes often because of bad maintenance of its aging aircraft. Tehran blames the problem in part on U.S. sanctions that prevent Iran from getting spare parts for some planes. Caspian Airlines, however, uses Russian-made Tupolevs whose maintenance would be less impaired by American sanctions."

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090715/ML.Iran.Plane/

Caspian Airlines operates Tu-154M aircraft, like the one pictured here:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Caspian-Airlines/Tupolev-Tu-154M/0458717/L/&sid=748f00b53e2c26fd592d8e4b882a361d

Details are few at this point.

[joeyb747]

Some more info has surfaced:

"...reports that the aircraft had reported technical problems and was attempting an emergency landing. "Unfortunately the plane caught fire in the air and it crashed,"..."

From this article:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2009/07/all-feared-dead-in-caspian-airlines-crash-in-iran.html

From Aviation Herald:

"A Caspian Airlines Tupolev TU-154M, registration EP-CPG performing flight RV-7908 from Tehran Imam Khomeini (Iran) to Yerevan (Armenia) with 153 passengers and 15 crew, crashed about 16 minutes after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport in the vicinity of the village of Janat-Abad (Qazvin province of Iran) about 120km (65nm) westnorthwest of Tehran. The airplane broke up and burst into flames at 11:49 local time (07:19Z). All occupants perished."

http://avherald.com/h?article=41cb2735

This is the airplane involved, Tupolev Tu-154M EP-CPG (cn 87A748), built in 1987:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Caspian-Airlines/Tupolev-Tu-154M/1528041/L/&sid=69588efbb7b84f74afb46e365d8e27ce

[joeyb747]

"Before crashing, the plane's tail was on fire as it circled in the air, one witness told The Associated Press.

"Then, I saw the plane crashing nose-down. It hit the ground causing a big explosion. The impact shook the ground like an earthquake. Then, plane pieces were scattered all over the agricultural fields," Ali Akbar Hashemi, a 23-year-old who was laying gas pipes in a nearby home, told AP by phone."

From this article:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090715/ML.Iran.Plane/