Iranian C-130

[ozzy72]

An Iranian military C-130 has crashed into a block of flats just after take-off in Tehran.
It is estimated that 90 people have been killed in the accident

[C]

Ooops...

Obviously the BBC don't know much about it yet - on the bottom of there brief report they included a form for "witnesses" to share there experiences of the accident... :-/

[Ivan]

Crashed in 10 story building, but noone atm knows for sure if it was a residental block (but it probably is)

Cnn has huge coverage gives over it... probably because it's a herk instead of a 'insert russian manufacturer here'.

the '90' number is the amount of people crammed in the plane...

[Ivan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 502966.stm

Burned out except top floor...
They say that there are about 250 people living in that kind of buildings, mostly airforce personnel and their families

[Theis]

Sad...
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/ ... index.html

May they rest in peace...

Cheers Theis

[The Ruptured Duck]

An Iranian military C-130 has crashed into a block of flats just after take-off in Tehran.
It is estimated that 90 people have been killed in the accident

Ah, who gave them one of those?

[Craig.]

Ah, who gave them one of those?

probably came part of the F14 package
this is sad news.

[Ivan]

Probably USAF freaks out about this one, as their herks are about as old as this one...

[Craig.]

I'm sure they are looked after alot better. Plus the switch over to the c130J.

[Hagar]

I copied this from Ivan's link.

The Iranian air force is believed to have about 15 ageing US-made C-130s in operation, dating back to before the 1979 Islamic revolution and the US boycott of Iran.

The country's civil and military aircraft have a poor safety record.

In 2003, an Iranian Ilyushin-76 troop carrier crashed in south-east Iran killing all 276 Revolutionary Guard soldiers and crew aboard.

Officials blame the high frequency of crashes on a lack of aviation spare parts due to US sanctions.

A very good reason for using home-manufactured military equipment where possible. It's all too easy for the manufacturer to cut off supplies & support if the situation changes for any reason. This applies to any country but is becoming more difficult as the equipment, especially aircraft, become more complex.

[ATI_7500]

And what have we learned from that?

Never use american aircraft in Iran.

[Craig.]

In 2003, an Iranian Ilyushin-76 troop carrier crashed in south-east Iran killing all 276 Revolutionary Guard soldiers and crew aboard.  

I did realise Ilyushin were American

[Hagar]

And what have we learned from that?

Never use american aircraft in Iran.

Not at all. This does not only apply to America but any country in the armaments business. It could apply equally to Russia or any other major arms supplier. Iran was an ally of the West when those aircraft were supplied. I believe the Shah of Iran was in the USA when he was deposed by the present regime.* The political situation changed overnight but Iran is still trying to operate the aircraft without the support of the manufacturers. It's hardly surprising that accidents happen.

What we should learn from it is this. The government of any country supplying equipment to another has a strong political & economic influence on those countries relying on it for their defence forces. The manufacturers can be forced to withdraw support or even the threat of doing so might be enough. The best equipment in the World is no use at all without spares & necessary support for it.

I recall a similar situation with Libya some years ago. Britain happily supplied the tanks for their army but when the political situation changed the government simply refused to supply the ammunition which made them useless. Also, during the Falklands War when pressure was brought to bear on France to stop supplies of Exocet missiles to Argentina & all available examples were purchased on behalf of the British government. The arms trade is a funny old business.

*PS. I could well be wrong about that but the basic facts are the same. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/16/newsid_2530000/2530475.stm

[Ivan]

Turning in a political mosh-pit there... with a CLOSED new (finished 2005) airport that is far from the city centre, and an operating old one that is in the middle of a city with some 15mio inhabitants the press is really getting angry

And about the cause... i've read something about wings falling off (same what happened to the firefighting herk)

I'm sure they are looked after alot better. Plus the switch over to the c130J

Sure new herks are better, but don't underestimate their aircraft industry... their modified F-14A's (flanker radar, exocet guidance systems, zvesda seats) are close to equal to a F-14D

[Craig.]

Too bad the F-14D's are all but gone.