Ukrainian 737 Crashes Shortly After Take Off From Tehran. Unverified Video Of Airliner Going Down Fuels Speculations.

Published on: January 8, 2020 at 12:01 PM
A stock photo of a Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737. (Photo: Ukrainian International Airlines)

Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 has crashed in Tehran. The incident occurred few hours after the Iranian strikes on U.S. Forces in Iraq, sparking speculations it was shot down by accident.

A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 crashed shortly after take-off from Iran’s Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran early in the morning on Jan. 8, 2020. The information surfaced just as networks were suggesting the U.S. may back down from earlier threats of retaliation after Iranian missile strikes on al-Asad and Irbil military bases in Iraq.

There were 180 passengers on board flight PS752 at the time of the accident. The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800 registered under tail code UR-PSR and delivered to the Ukrainian airline in 2016. The flight was bound for the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. No survivors have been reported as video and photos of the accident surfaced on social media.

One Twitter account, @MohamadAhwaze, showed video that is claimed to be of the Ukraine International 737 crashing. The video appears to show an object trailing flame as it descends at a moderate trajectory until it flares brightly on impact. The authenticity of the video has not been verified.

Moments before the news of the Ukraine 737 crash at Tehran surfaced on Twitter and the BBC World News, the civilian OPSGROUP aviation advisory service issued an email “Call to Respond” to pilots in the region for information about Iranian air traffic control operations.

In the email from OPSGROUP, the following information was provided:

“We have had two reports from members that were operating in the Tehran FIR at the time. One was enroute to OMDB and given a 180° turn to exit the airspace, by Iranian ATC. Another N-registered aircraft was given revised routing out of the Tehran FIR, destination was OMDW. They had declared minimum route fuel and were asking to continue forward, and were denied. Tehran appears to have quite literally uninvited N-reg aircraft from their airspace. From previous Iran warnings, OPSGROUP members say: ‘Even if the operator/pilots think they will come close or penetrate Iran’s Airspace they should contact Iran Air Defense on 127.8 or 135.1’. If the Iranians have an unidentified aircraft on their radar and not in contact with them they will transmit on guard with the unidentified aircraft coordinates, altitude, squawk (if there is one), direction of travel and then ask this aircraft to identify themselves as they are approaching Iranian ADIZ.” [ADIZ is an acronym for “Air Defense Identification Zone”.]

Immediately prior to and during the time period when the Ukraine 737 went down over Tehran, most of the aircraft seen on the flight tracking service FlightRadar were Iranian registered aircraft. These were civilian aircraft, both commercial and general aviation, having either been routed out of the area by Iranian ATC or left the area on their own.

Iranian news agencies quoted by CNBC say that the “plane crashed due to technical difficulties”. There was no report of how Iranian authorities were able to determine or speculate about the cause of the crash. There have been no reports published so far of a distress call from the aircraft. A report that surfaced this morning on the BBC World News said that, “Ukraine’s Tehran embassy initially blamed engine failure but later removed the statement.” While speculation about the cause of the accident is widespread on social media, no theories about the cause of the crash have been verified yet. The BBC World News went on to report that, “Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, warned against ‘speculation or unchecked theories regarding the catastrophe’ until official reports were ready.

Video on Twitter fueled speculation about the aircraft being shot down by Iranian air defense. (Photos: via Twitter)

Despite statements urging observers not to theorize about the cause of the crash, speculation that the aircraft was shot down accidentally by Iranian air defense, which was on heightened alert after launching attacks on Iraqi bases, has spread quickly on Twitter following the video posted by @MohamadAhwaze. These speculations add to the rising amount of unverified reports surfacing on social media.

Whatever the cause of the crash, the accident has significant implications. Boeing’s new Chief Operating Officer, David Calhoun, is set to take command of the Seattle, Washington aircraft manufacturer in only days. Calhoun replaces former CEO Dennis Muilenburg, who left the position at Boeing in December in response to the problems associated with the civilian 737-MAX.



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Tom Demerly is a feature writer, journalist, photographer and editorialist who has written articles that are published around the world on TheAviationist.com, TACAIRNET.com, Outside magazine, Business Insider, We Are The Mighty, The Dearborn Press & Guide, National Interest, Russia’s government media outlet Sputnik, and many other publications. Demerly studied journalism at Henry Ford College in Dearborn, Michigan. Tom Demerly served in an intelligence gathering unit as a member of the U.S. Army and Michigan National Guard. His military experience includes being Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Georgia (Cycle C-6-1) and as a Scout Observer in a reconnaissance unit, Company “F”, 425th INF (RANGER/AIRBORNE), Long Range Surveillance Unit (LRSU). Demerly is an experienced parachutist, holds advanced SCUBA certifications, has climbed the highest mountains on three continents and visited all seven continents and has flown several types of light aircraft.
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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