Iran Air plane skids off runway in Iran

Another Iranian Airliner skidded of the runway in Kermanshah earlier yesterday. This incident is the second such incident in a mere 10 days in Iran. An Iran Air A319-111 aircraft registered as EP-IEQ, departed from Tehran Mehrabad International Airport at 05:11am local time and attempted a landing at Kermanshah Airport at 6:01am local time.

A photo of the incident which took place in the early hours of the morning. Photo by Nikhil Choudhary.

The state-run IRNA said one of the plane’s wheels slipped six meters due to heavy snowfall when it was on the taxiway after landing. It ended up in the middle of a snow-covered field off the runway, which the authorities blamed on a faulty landing gear and poor visibility as the cause of the incident. The exact reason for this incident will only be known after the full investigation by authorities. The aircraft which is 18 years old (but delivered to Iran Air in December 2019) was carrying 102 passengers and 8 crew members on board. No injuries were reported after the incident and the plane is said to have overshot the landing strip by only a few meters.

Iran Air, branded as The Airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is the flag carrier of Iran headquartered in Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. Iran Air's current fleet includes one Airbus A300B2-200, three Airbus A300B4-200, four Airbus A310-300, two Airbus A310-300, five Airbus A320-200, one Airbus A321-200, two Airbus A330-200, 13 ATR 72-600 and two Fokker 100 aircraft.

Photo by Mehr News.

This is the second such incident in only a few days after an Iranian passenger airliner, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 carrying 150 passengers, skidded off the runway and into a highway next to the airport in the southern city of Mahshahr. According to a news agency it is said that a similar incident, a Tehran-bound passenger plane which was operated by Qeshm Air, declared an emergency returned to Gorgan Airport in Iran, the reason being that one of its engines caught fire shortly after take-off.

Iran is facing a shortage of spare parts and new aircrafts due to sanctions imposed by American President Donald Trump. Hopefully the safety of Iranian airliners is taken seriously in the coming months days.