A Bell 212 helicopter crashed carrying Iran’s President Raisi: What we all know

Authorities in Iran have supplied little details about the circumstances of the crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and eight others however have attributed it to a “technical failure.” U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin instructed reporters Monday that “america had no half to play” within the crash and that the Pentagon had no perception into the trigger.

Regardless of poor relations between Tehran and Washington, the Iranian air power maintains 5 of those U.S.-designed plane for its VIP squadron, together with the one concerned within the president’s crash, based on Scramble, a Dutch aviation web site. Some could also be a long time previous — knowledge from Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, reveals that the common age of the 15 Bell 212 plane registered in Iran was 35 years previous — with their upkeep difficult by worldwide sanctions on Iran.

Bell Helicopter, now Bell Textron, which developed the helicopter within the Nineteen Sixties, stated it had little details about the state of the helicopter. “We will verify that Bell doesn’t conduct any enterprise in Iran or help their helicopter fleet, and we don’t have data in regards to the energetic state of the helicopter concerned on this accident,” Bell stated in an announcement to The Put up on Monday.

U.S. Nationwide Safety Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday denied accusations that U.S. sanctions might have led to the crash, calling any such claims “completely baseless.”

The helicopter crashed Sunday amid dense fog within the mountainous terrain of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. Dozens of search groups labored into the night time, struggling via the rugged panorama to succeed in the scene; phrase that the positioning had been discovered and all 9 individuals aboard have been lifeless got here greater than 12 hours after information first emerged of the helicopter’s disappearance. There was no indication of foul play.

John Cox, an American crash knowledgeable, stated investigators are prone to additionally concentrate on the dangerous climate and poor visibility reported on the time of the crash.

“Mountainous terrain and dangerous climate is rarely a very good mixture for a helicopter flight,” stated Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator. He described the Bell 212 as “a stalwart.”

A database maintained by the Flight Security Basis lists about 430 Bell 212 accidents since 1972, together with the Iranian president’s helicopter crash, with 162 of them — just below 40 % — involving fatalities.

Globally, there are 443 Bell 212 plane in service by 144 completely different operators, and their common age is 42 years previous, based on Cirium.

The final fatality involving a Bell 212 occurred in September, when a helicopter on a coaching flight crashed off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, based on the Flight Security Basis.

Usually, abroad crash investigators name within the experience of overseas plane producers to assist their probes, underneath a course of overseen by the U.N. aviation company. It’s unclear whether or not Iran will search that help, however, Cox stated, “It will be higher if Bell plane have been concerned to help the Iranians.”

Iranian authorities have blamed sanctions on U.S. aviation tools for the crash. Cox stated it could in all probability be tough to function the Bell helicopter inside Iran with no third-party supply for components or cannibalizing plane for spares.

Iran has confronted U.S. sanctions since 1979. The measures have broadened and deepened through the years and been complemented by European and U.N. sanctions, negatively affecting the Iranian aviation sector and different industries.

There have been occasions when Iran was in a position to “legally import” whole plane and their components from Western international locations, stated Farzan Sabet, a senior analysis affiliate on the Geneva Graduate Institute.

“Particularly since sanctions and export controls have intensified within the final decade and a half, [Iran] has more and more had far more hassle doing this,” aside from a short interval in the course of the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal earlier than the withdrawal of america underneath President Donald Trump.

America’ sanctions block not solely U.S.-manufactured plane that may be bought to Iran, but additionally “plane that use subtle U.S. elements,” Sabet added. Sanctions additionally make worldwide transactions involving Iran’s civil aviation sector and fleet far more tough.

John Hudson and Laris Karklis contributed to this report.