We’re wrapping up coverage here, but you can continue to follow live updates of the Ukrainian airliner disaster and the latest on the US-Iran crisis by clicking this link.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday the downing of a Ukrainian plane in Tehran “does not suggest an intentional act.”
His comments come after multiple US officials have said the US increasingly believes that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner on Wednesday.
“Australia has received similar intelligence to that which has been spoken to by both the Prime Minister of Canada and from the United States,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
“It is just a terrible, terrible event and we’ll provide whatever support we can.”
The Australian Prime Minister also called for a probe into the disaster, saying “it is absolutely critical that full and transparent investigation is undertaken into this terrible event and that would include undertaking all efforts to ensure we get recovery of the black box recorder that can obviously inform that investigation.”
Australia’s flag carrier, Qantas, said earlier this week it is “adjusting its flight paths over the Middle East to avoid the airspace over Iraq and Iran until further notice.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to blame Iran for the downing of a Ukrainian jetliner this week, saying tonight, “we’ll see what actually transpired.”
“If it, in fact, proves after the investigation is complete what it is I think many surmise at this point, that in fact, it was the Iranians who fired a missile and took down this aircraft, it will have been Iranians that killed Iranians inside of Iran, an enormous tragedy,” Pompeo said on “The Ben Shapiro Show.”
Pompeo added: “But no matter what the situation is, to suggest somehow that actions that America took to protect itself, to defend America and to take down a terrorist in Baghdad, had any implications or any connection to what the Iranians ultimately chose to do is farcical, fanciful, and clearly political.”
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will participate in the investigation into the Ukrainian Airlines flight that crashed in Iran, killing 176 people, according to a statement.
The statement said the agency “will not speculate about the cause of the crash” and that Iranian authorities, which notified the NTSB of the crash, will be the lead agency.
The NTSB has designated one of its investigators, known as an “accredited representative,” to assist.
The Iranian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has invited the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) to go to the Ukrainian airliner crash site in Tehran, according to a release from TSB.
The TSB has accepted the invitation and is making arrangements to travel to the site, where the board will work with other groups and organizations already on site, the release said.
“The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) again extends its condolences to the families and loved ones of the people who perished in the tragic crash,” the release added.
Iran’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson Abbas Mousavi tweeted that the investigation into the cause behind the crash of Ukrainian Airlines flight has officially launched based on international guidelines set forth by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Mousavi added that representatives from Ukraine and aircraft manufacturer Boeing have been invited to take part in the investigation.
He ended the tweet by saying, “We appreciate any country who can provide information to the committee in charge.”
Iranian aviation authorities have invited the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to join the investigation into the Ukrainian Airlines plane that crashed in Iran, killing 176 people on board, according to a US official.
What we know about the crash: The US increasingly believes Iran mistakenly shot down the airliner, according to multiple US officials.
Allowing US investigators to participate in the inquiry is significant and allows Boeing to participate. But it sets up a thorny situation because some sanctions would need to be waived to allow the US side to participate.
The plane involved is a Boeing 737-800. The company and the NTSB did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa canceled flights to Tehran today, the airlines said.
Lufthansa flight LH 600, which was on its way from Frankfurt to Tehran, will return to Frankfurt, the German airline said in a statement.
Both airlines in separate statements said the decisions were made due to “the latest reports and a changed assessment of the security situation for the airspace around Tehran airport.”
Both Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa have suspended flights to Tehran for Friday and said they “continue to evaluate the situation on site with national and international authorities.”
This development comes after multiple American officials said the US increasingly believes that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner on Wednesday.
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi expressed condolences for the families of the plane crash victims.
In comments to the UN Security Council this afternoon, he said:
Video sent to CNN appears to show a missile fired into the Tehran sky early Wednesday morning and striking an object in the sky. Around that time, a Ukranian airliner crashed shortly after takeoff.
CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the video, but the buildings seen in it appears similar to ones that are in the Iranian capitol suburb of Parand. The Ukrainian plane crashed just north of the suburb.
The video, obtained by Nariman Gharib who then sent it to CNN and the New York Times, shows a light in the sky, moving left to right and then exploding.
CNN has asked Gharib for more information of who took the video and how he obtained it, but has not yet received a response.
The US increasingly believes that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner on Tuesday, according to multiple US officials. The working theory is based on continuing analysis of data from satellites, radar and electronic data collected routinely by US military and intelligence.
The flight was downed following Iranian strikes on US forces in Iraq.
The Ukrainian Jetliner that crashed Wednesday was shot down by two Russian made surface to air missiles (SA-15), according to a US official familiar with the intelligence. The US saw Iranian radar signals lock onto the jetliner, before it being shot down.
There’s now a “body of information” that the Ukrainian airliner, which crashed shortly after takeoff in Tehran, was shot down by an Iranian missile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement today:
“There is now a body of information that the flight was shot down by an Iranian Surface to Air Missile. This may well have been unintentional. We are working closely with Canada and our international partners and there now needs to be a full, transparent investigation.”
Four British nationals were on board the flight, the statement said, and it is now “vital that there should be an immediate and respectful repatriation of those who’ve lost their lives to allow their families to grieve properly.”
“The UK continues to call on all sides urgently to deescalate to reduce tensions in the region.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his condolences over the deaths of Canadian citizens in the airliner crash in a phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“This is a terrible tragedy and our shared pain,” Zelensky said in a statement released today.
Zelensky added that Ukraine is “interested in a transparent and objective investigation of the tragedy and finding the truth.”
About the victims: Of the 176 victims on board, 63 were Canadian. The country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 were going to fly on to Canada, and that their connecting flight had arrived in Toronto with many seats empty.
The head of the Iranian Investigating Committee of the Ukraine plane crash, Hassan Rezaeifar, said it has invited the United States “as the manufacturer of Boeing to be present” while the committee investigates the crash, according to the country’s semi-official Fars News Agency.
Fars reported that “Boeing has named a representative without confirming their participation.”
CNN is reaching out to Boeing to see if Iran has contacted them and for any response. Representatives of Boeing would likely need permission from the US to travel to Iran because of existing sanctions
The Ukrainian airliner crashed after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday local time, killing all 176 people on board, including dozens of Iranians and Canadians.
The Ukrainian plane that crashed Wednesday was shot down by two Russian-made surface to air missiles (SA-15), according to a US official familiar with the intelligence.
The US saw Iranian radar signals lock onto the jetliner, before it was shot down.
The morning after the incident, US analysts discovered the data but took another day to verify.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hopes a thorough investigation will produce answers to why the Kiev-bound Ukraine International Airlines jet crashed after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday.
“I am willing to talk to anyone to get answers,” Trudeau said in a televised address from Ottawa.
Of the 176 people killed, 63 were Canadian.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deflected when asked about the United States’ role in the Ukrainian airliner crash.
Asked how much responsibility the US bears for the crash given the tension in the region, here’s what Trudeau said:
“The evidence suggests that this is the likely cause, but we need to have a full and complete and credible investigation to establish exactly what happened. That is what we are calling for and that is what we’re expecting will happen.”
“It is too soon to be drawing conclusions,” Trudeau later said, adding that there needs to be a thorough investigation first.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadian officials have intelligence from their own sources and Canada’s allies that shows Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752 was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.
“This may have been unintentional,” Trudeau said today, adding that international partners should be involved in the investigation.
Trudeau added: “It is extremely important that there be a thorough and credible investigation.”
Iranian authorities have indicated that they want to keep the plane’s black boxes within the country, Trudeau said.
Watch Trudeau’s remarks:
Ukraine has called on its international partners to provide any evidence they might have that would shed light on the crash of the Ukrainian airliner, the Office of the President of Ukraine said in a statement on Thursday.
“Today the President of Ukraine has had telephone conversations with leaders of several countries, including the Prime Ministers of Canada and Sweden, the President of Iran. Our country is interested in finding the truth. Therefore, we turn to Ukraine’s international partners: if you have any evidence to assist the investigation, please provide it,” the statement said.
Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority head, Ali Abedzadeh, told CNN the country may need outside help to decode the black box on the Ukrainian airliner because it is damaged.
“Generally speaking, Iran has the potential and know-how to decode the black box. Everybody knows that,” he said.
However, Abedzadeh said, “the black box of this very Ukrainian Boeing 737 is damaged. Ukrainian Aviation experts arrived here in Tehran today. We had a session with them. From tomorrow they will start decoding the data.”
He added: “If the available equipment is not enough to get the content,” Iran will outsource the boxes to “the experts from France or Canada.”
“Then whatever is the result will be published and publicized to the world,” Abedzadeh said.
More on this: CNN’s aviation expert Richard Quest said the important point here is Iran will need the help of very experienced people to download the data if the boxes are damaged.
Quest said it is unlikely the boxes would be opened if damaged. If damaged, they would only be opened under the most exacting circumstances. Quest said data cannot be read until the boxes are opened, the data is downloaded and then analyzed. French or Canadian aviation officials would have the needed experience and equipment to do this.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the plane crash.
More context: The Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) flight PS752 came down just minutes after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday local time, killing all 176 people on board, including dozens of Iranians and Canadians. The Boeing 737-800 was headed for Kiev, where 138 passengers were expected to take a connecting flight to Canada.
European security officials said they believe that reports suggesting that the Ukrainian airliner was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile in error are credible.
The head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority is questioning the US allegation that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner that crashed shortly after takeoff in Tehran.
He said once the plane took off, it continued flying for five minutes. Abedzadeh said “the pilot tried to return to the airport but failed.”
Abedzadeh went on to ask, “How can a plane be hit by rocket or missile” and then the pilot “try to turn back to the airport?”
Boeing shares are rising following reports that Iran may have mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian 737 jet Wednesday.
The United States increasingly believes that Iran downed the plane soon after it took off from Tehran, CNN and other news outlets reported. The crash took place hours after Iranian rocket attacks on US forces in Iraq.
Early reports suggested the plane went down because of a mechanical problem. Investors were concerned that could add to Boeing’s long list of 737 problems and could further disrupt its business. Shares of Boeing, which fell Wednesday, were up 2% on the news.
The US increasingly believes that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner, according to multiple US officials. CNN is told this could be a fog of war incident, and Iran may have believed it was under attack.
Here’s a quick recap of the US-Iran crisis that has increased tensions in the Middle East:
CNN’s Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr said the US believes Iran mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian plane, explaining that Iranian troops may have believed they were under attack.
She explained that one possibility being considered is that “the Iranian missile unit, the troops on the ground in Iran at that point, perhaps saw something on their own radar returned, perhaps thought they were under attack and fired.”
President Trump said he suspected that the recent plane crash in Iran was not due to mechanical issues, indicating that “somebody could have made a mistake on the other side.”
Asked during a White House event what he thought happened to the plane, Trump said, “Well, I have my suspicions.”
“I don’t want to say that because other people have their suspicions,” Trump said, but added, “Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side … not our system. It has nothing to do with us.”
Asked if he thought it was downed by accident, Trump said, “I don’t know. I really don’t know … that’s up to them. At some point they’ll release the black box.”
“Ideally they’d give it to Boeing,” he said, but said giving it to France or “some other country” would be fine, too.
“Something very terrible happened, very devastating,” he concluded.
Important to know: Just moments ago, CNN reported that the US believes Iran shot down the plane by accident.
The US increasingly believes that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner, according to multiple US officials. The working theory is based on continuing analysis of data from satellites, radar and electronic data collected routinely by US military and intelligence.
The flight was downed following Iranian strikes on US forces in Iraq.
Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization head, Ali Abedzadeh, said it would not hand the flight data recorders to Boeing or the United States after they were found on Wednesday.
Newsweek was first to report US and Iraqi sources believe Iran shot down the plane by mistake
The UK is looking into “very concerning” reports about the Iran plane crash, a Downing Street spokesperson said, according to the PA news agency.
“I’m not going to speculate on this but the reports we have seen are very concerning and we are urgently looking into them,” the spokesperson told PA.
Ukraine officials said earlier Thursday they are looking into multiple causes for the crash, including a missile strike or terrorism.
Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anne Linde told CNN’s Becky Anderson that nothing was being ruled out concerning the causes of the plane crash. Ten Swedish nationals were among the 176 dead.
This comes as Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization invited Sweden to join the crash investigation on Thursday.
Linde told CNN said it was important to have “transparency” in the investigation, and said she did not think it was problematic that Iran was leading the inquiry.
It is “just following international rules because the plane crashed in Tehran and it’s their authority to lead,” she said.
She added that Sweden had no concerns about a lack of transparency on the ground.
“We are counting on the Iranian authorities to be transparent [and] to let all the experts from different countries to be able to check all the evidence,” she said. “We have no reason to doubt anything at this stage.”
Ali Abedzadeh, the chief of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, wrote in a preliminary report on the crash that both of the plane’s black boxes have been damaged, with physical damage visible.
“Both devices have been damaged by fire and the accident. There is the memory parts in both devices, however, physical damage is visible on them,” the report wrote.
He added that the aircraft first rose to an “altitude of 8000 feet” before disappearing from the radar screen, and the aircraft hits the ground.
There were no radio messages from the pilot before it crashed, Abedzadeh wrote. It appeared the plane was heading westward from the airport, and when problems occurred it turned right, and crashed as it attempted to return to the airport, he added.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky invited the United Kingdom to join the crash investigation in a phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
A statement released by Zelensky’s office Thursday stated that Johnson supported this idea and stressed that the best British experts should be involved in finding out all the circumstances of the tragedy.
“In our contacts with the Iranian side, we clearly insist on conducting a transparent, comprehensive and objective investigation in order to establish the circumstances of this tragic event as soon as possible,” Zelensky said.
CNN has reached out to the UK Department of Transport and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch for comment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talked to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thursday, expressing condolences over the three British citizens who died in the crash.
“Ukraine is grateful for the UK’s comprehensive support. Looking forward to stepping up our bilateral cooperation & to visiting London on invitation of Boris Johnson,” Zelensky added.
He also spoke to Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, saying he would “provide all information about the results of the investigation to the Afghan authorities.”
According to a statement, Zelensky sent condolences over the death of four Afghan citizens in the plane crash.
“Ukraine sincerely shares the grief of the families of the dead. Truth is most important to us,” he added.
Investigators are scrambling to determine the cause of the crash that killed all 176 people on board a plane that came down shortly after takeoff from Tehran.
The Boeing 737 jet, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, took off early on Wednesday en route to the Ukrainian capital Kiev and disappeared from radar minutes later.
Eighty-two Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians died in the crash, which took place between the cities of Parand and Shahriar.
There were also 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals among the victims.
There have been numerous questions around the fate of the black boxes recovered from the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737, which crashed outside Tehran.
If a country where a crash took place did not have the technology to analyze data, the black box would instead be sent to places that have extensive experience and tools to read raw flight data – such as the UK, US, France and Australia.
What we don’t know is whether Iran has the technology to do that. If not, Iran may need to decide where to send the two recovered boxes.
What would be devastating is if it botched an attempt to read the boxes; in the worst case scenario this could destroy the data.
The boxes could be sent to Russia which has the means to read black box data.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rang Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to express his condolences to the loved ones of the 10 Swedish citizens killed in the plane crash in Iran.
“Ukraine is stunned by the tragedy. Thank you for your solidarity and empathy,” Zelensky said in the phone conversation, according to a Thursday statement.
Zelensky also invited Sweden to join the investigation.
Löfven also expressed his condolences from the people of Sweden and said that officials in Stockholm were ready to assist, using all possible means to ensure a transparent investigation.
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine was in constant contact with a group of experts in Tehran and would inform its partners of the progress of the investigation.
It’s the second day of investigation into Wednesday’s Ukraine International Airlines plane crash, which killed all 176 people on board when the Boeing 737 plunged to the ground just after takeoff from Tehran.
Questions on what caused the tragic incident loom large. Here are some of them:
Why did the plane crash?
There have been conflicting reasons given for the tragedy, and Ukrainian authorities have signaled that an answer will only be provided after a full investigation has been made.
By Thursday, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization released a preliminary report that said the plane was on fire before it crashed, citing witnesses. It added that the aircraft changed direction after a problem and turned back toward the airport.
Now, Ukraine says multiple possible theories are being discussed with Iranian investigators: including the plane being hit by an anti-aircraft missile, a collision, technical failure or a terrorist act.
Is it linked to Boeing’s ongoing technical problems?
The plane is a Boeing 737-800, a predecessor to the company’s 737 Max, which has been grounded since March after its involvement in two fatal crashes that killed 346 people.
But the 800 version of the jet, also known as a 737 Next Generation or NG, has had its own problems.
All of this could add to the crisis Boeing has been grappling with over the different jet, the 737 Max, but there has been no indication yet that this is a manufacturing issue.
What will happen to the black box?
A plane’s so-called “black boxes” – the flight data and cockpit voice recorders – can provide crucial evidence about what happened before a crash.
Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization head, Ali Abedzadeh, said it would not hand the flight data recorders to Boeing or the United States after they were found on Wednesday.
What is unclear is whether that decision was to do with hostilities between Tehran and Washington, which escalated after a US strike that killed Iran’s top commander, Qasem Soleimani, on Iraqi soil last week.
The move was not necessarily against protocol, former US FAA chief of staff Michael Goldfarb told CNN Wednesday.
Under international rules, Iran would be the lead investigator of the crash and Ukraine should participate as the state of registry and state of operator of the aircraft.
But the US – where the Boeing jet was designed and manufactured – is not required to be involved in investigations right off the bat, Goldfarb said.
But Goldfarb added there was no way the Iranians could refuse to work with Boeing and do justice to the investigation.
“They have to work with Boeing. Boeing has all the data, owns all the drawings and designs, they have the engineers, they know the plane.”
This does not mean there has been no global cooperation. Canada and Sweden were invited to join the investigation on Thursday by Iranian and Ukrainian experts.
Canadian and Swedish authorities have been invited to cooperate in the investigation into Wednesday’s crash, the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization said in a statement.
The first joint meeting between Iranian and Ukrainian experts, sent to Tehran to investigate the incident, has already taken place, according to the organization.
No further details were provided.
This comes as Ukraine said it is probing multiple possible causes of the crash. The head of its national security and defense council said these were raised at Thursday’s meeting.
The causes under investigation include the airliner being hit by an anti-aircraft missile, a collision, technical failure and a terrorist act.
A steady stream of mourners have been leaving flowers and tea lights at the arrivals hall at Boryspil International Airport, in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, a day after 176 people died in the plane crash in Iran.
Eleven Ukrainians were killed, many of whom were crew members on the Ukraine International Airlines flight.
Olena, who declined to give her surname, told CNN that she had come to the airport to pay tribute to her friend and former classmate, Serhii Khomenko – one of the pilots onboard the Boeing 737 aircraft. They had attended school together in the northern Russian city of Murmansk.
Visibly upset by the death of her friend, Olena said Khomenko has left behind a wife and two children, adding that he was an avid boxer.
Valeriy, who also declined to give another name, told CNN that his sister is godmother to the children of the flight’s instructor pilot Oleksiy Naumkin.
Holding back tears, Valeriy told CNN that Naumkin was an experienced pilot who “was so funny and liked to joke.”
Valeriy said he last saw his friend a couple months ago, adding that he was shell-shocked when he heard the news.
Ukraine is investigating multiple possible causes of Wednesday’s deadly jetliner crash that killed 176 passengers and crew shortly after takeoff in Tehran.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defence council chief, Oleksiy Danilov, wrote on Facebook that a meeting is taking place Thursday with Iranian authorities, where various causes behind the crash are “being studied.”
These include the theory that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile, Danilov wrote.
It’s still not clear what caused the crash and several explanations, including technical failure, have not been ruled out.
Other theories under consideration are whether the plane collided with a drone or “other flying object”; technical problems with the plane’s engine causing it to explode, or finally whether an explosion inside the plane was a terrorist act.
Twenty minutes before the plane took off from the Iranian capital, Sheyda Shadkhoo called her husband from aboard the flight. She wanted him to reassure her that everything would be fine, he says.
She’d taken three weeks off from her job in Toronto to visit her mother and sisters in Tehran. Her vacation was over, and she was heading back to Canada to her husband, Hassan Shadkhoo. Her flight was leaving from Tehran to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.
“I spoke to her … 20 minutes before the plane took off,” he said Wednesday in Toronto. She was worried about the tensions between Tehran and the United States after President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iranian top general Qasem Soleimani.
“She wanted me to assure her that there wasn’t going to be a war. I told her not to worry. Nothing’s gonna happen,” her husband told CNN’s news partner CBC. Then she said goodbye and turned her phone off in preparation for takeoff.
Ukrainian International Airlines has released the names of the 176 people aboard Flight PS752 when it crashed in Iran Wednesday while en route to Ukraine.
The names of those killed in the crash can be found here.
The victims include 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister.
The airline previously released the names of the pilots and crew, who died in the crash.
The pilots were:
The flight attendants were:
The Iranian Civil Aviation authority has found that Ukrainian Airlines flight PS 752 was on fire before it crashed, it said in an initial report on Thursday, citing witnesses.
The report also mentions that the plane changed directions after a problem and turned back towards the airport.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared January 9 a day of national mourning.
In the announcement published on his official website, Zelensky also said that he would speak with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to step up cooperation between the two countries to determine the cause of the plane crash.
Forty-five Ukrainian experts have arrived in Tehran to assist with the investigation and to help identify the victims’ bodies, Zelensky said.
Eighty-two Iranians, 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians died onboard flight PS752, according to a tweet from Ukrainian foreign minister Vadym Prystaiko. There were also 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three British nationals among the victims, he said.
The Boeing 737 jet operated by Ukraine International Airlines took off early Wednesday en route to the Ukrainian capital Kiev, carrying 167 passengers and nine crew before crashing between the cities of Parand and Shahriar. Witnesses described seeing a fireball in the sky and images of the wreckage show charred parts of the plane strewn over a field.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said 138 of the passengers were supposed to catch a connecting flight to Canada. That flight landed in Toronto Wednesday afternoon with many seats empty.
The captain of the crashed plane has been identified as Volodymyr Gaponenko, an experienced pilot with 11,600 hours flying on Boeing 737 aircraft under his belt. The instructor pilot was Oleksiy Naumkin, also experienced with 12,000 hours on the aircraft. Ukraine International Airlines president, Yevhenii Dykhne, said, “It is impossible that there were mistakes by the crew.”
At a press conference in Kiev, he said Tehran airport was “not a simple airport” and the pilots required several years of training to use it.
A plane’s so-called “black boxes” — the flight data and cockpit voice recorders — can provide crucial evidence about what happened before a crash.
After the black boxes from Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 plane were found, Ali Abedzadeh, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority, told Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency that the US would not be involved at any stage of the investigation.
“We will not give the black box to the manufacturer [Boeing] or America,” he said.
Former FAA chief of staff Michael Goldfarb told CNN that move was not necessarily against protocol.
Under international rules, Iran would be the lead investigator of the crash and Ukraine should participate as the state of registry and state of operator of the aircraft.
But the US — where Boeing is designed and manufactured — is not required to be involved in investigations right off the bat, Goldfarb said.
If the black boxes are difficult to discern, if they’re damaged, the three best labs in the world are the British, the French and the NTSB in the US. It’s very common for those three entities to either be given the lead or called in,” he said.
But Goldfarb added there was no way the Iranians could refuse to work with Boeing and do justice to the investigation.
“They have to work with Boeing. Boeing has all the data, owns all the drawings and designs, they have the engineers, they know the plane.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for “complete cooperation with any investigation into the cause of the crash,” saying that the US would continue to follow the incident closely and was prepared to offer Ukraine “all possible assistance.”
Given the level of the crew’s experience, it’s unlikely that the plane crash was the result of error, Ukrainian International Airlines vice president of operations Ihor Sosnovsky said in a statement on Wednesday.
Tehran airport is anything but a simple one. Therefore, for several years UIA has been using this airport to conduct training on Boeing 737 aircraft aimed at evaluating pilots’ proficiency and ability to act in emergency cases. According to our records, the aircraft ascended as high as 2,400 meters. Given the crew’s experience, error probability is minimal. We do not even consider such a chance.”
The airline also released the names of the pilots and crew, who died in the crash.
The pilots were:
The flight attendants were:
The cause of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 plane crash today that killed all 176 people on board remains unknown as the investigation continues.
Here’s what we do know:
