[finneyp]

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

But the problem with this crash is US sanctions on Iran and they cannot buy planes from anywhere except Russia and like someone already mentioned Russian passenger planes are nothing to be proud of.

Are you sure about the US sanctions on Iran? I don't think so.
Nor does there is any UN sanctions on Iran.

Iran may have bought these Russian planes long back.

[DriverR]

OT: Watch Air Crach Inventigations on Nat Geo every Monday at 10. Lovely series. Most of the time it is combination of small issues that happens in a sequence that leads to a crash.

[Aiel]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Are you sure about the US sanctions on Iran? I don't think so.
Nor does there is any UN sanctions on Iran.

Iran may have bought these Russian planes long back.

US had put sanctions on Iran, prohibiting sales of technology like aircraft, spare parts etc to Iran by US nationals or US corporations after the coup against the Shah in the 1970s. As a result, Iran cannot buy spare parts for their existing western aircraft (Boeing B747SP, Airbus A300, Boeing B707). The same goes for their military aircraft like the F15, F5 etc.

The Iranians keep the aircraft flying by cannibalizing spare parts or smuggling spare parts in small quantities.

They are also unable to buy new western aircraft, say from Airbus or Boeing, as both use a large number of US parts. So, they are forced to buy Russian aircraft. Iranian airlines, including Caspian Airlines, to whom the crashed aircraft belongs have ordered new Tupolev aircraft.

The aircraft that crashed was built in 1987 and found its way to Caspian Airlines some 10-11 years back.

OT, due to the presence of all these vintage aircraft, Iran is heaven for most of the aviation freaks. Iran also has the only passenger 707 in operation (Saha Air).