| 1993 Tehran mid-air collision | |
| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Summary: | Mid-air collision caused by ATC error and pilot error on the Su-24 |
| Site: | Shahr-e Qods, Tehran Province, Iran |
| Total Fatalities: | 133 |
| Total Survivors: | 0 |
| Plane1 Image: | Iran_Airtour_Tu-154M_EP-MCR_SVO_2008-9-23.png |
| Plane1 Caption: | An Iran Air Tours Tu-154M, similar to the one involved in the accident |
| Aircraft Type: | Tupolev Tu-154M |
| Operator: | Iran Air Tours |
| Tail Number: | EP-ITD |
| Iata: | B9962 |
| Icao: | IRB962 |
| Callsign: | IRAN AIRTOUR 962 |
| Origin: | Mehrabad International Airport |
| Destination: | Mashhad International Airport |
| Passengers: | 119 |
| Crew: | 12 |
| Fatalities: | 131 |
| Survivors: | 0 |
| Plane2 Image: | A_IRIAF_Su-24_ready_to_takeoff_from_THR.jpg |
| Plane2 Caption: | An IRIAF Su-24 |
| Plane2 Type: | Sukhoi Su-24 |
| Plane2 Operator: | Iranian Air Force |
| Plane2 Tailnum: | Unknown |
| Plane2 Origin: | Unknown |
| Plane2 Destination: | Mehrabad International Airport |
| Plane2 Crew: | 2 |
| Plane2 Fatalities: | 2 |
| Plane2 Survivors: | 0 |
On 8 February 1993, Iran Air Tours Flight 962, a Tupolev Tu-154, collided in mid-air with an Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft near the Iranian capital of Tehran, killing all 133 people aboard both aircraft. It is the deadliest aviation accident in 1993.[1] [2]
Flight 962, with 119 passengers and 12 crew on board, departed from runway 29R at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport on a non-scheduled domestic flight to Mashhad International Airport in Mashhad. The aircraft was flown by an unnamed Russian captain who had 12,000 flight hours (the information on the remaining flight crew is unknown). After takeoff, the aircraft was instructed to climb to 6000feet.[3]
At the same time, five IRIAF Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jets were approaching Mehrabad's runway 29L using visual flight rules (VFR). They would later perform special maneuvers for the Iranian Revolution Commemoration Ceremony. The fighter jets flew in a westerly heading and were placed at an altitude of 5000feet by Mehrabad air traffic controller (ATC) Faramarz Sarvi.
Flight 962 was climbing at the direction of runway 29R, and at the same time the five Su-24s were descending to land on runway 29L. All five of them were separated one mile apart. One of the Su-24s, piloted by a crew of two pilots, turned left four miles west of the tower but did not have enough visibility as it was performing a go around. At this point, Flight 962 was nearing the Sukhoi fighter. Flight 962 and the Su-24 did not obtain visual sight of each other. At about 14:16 IRST, the two aircraft collided in mid-air; the rear engine and the tail of the Tupolev aircraft were torn off, and the flight crew lost control of the aircraft.[4] Both aircraft crashed into an army depot at the town of Shahr-e Qods, near Tehransar, about 9.4miles from Mehrabad.[5] All 131 people aboard the Iran Air Tours airliner and both military pilots died.[6]
Investigators determined that the pilot of Flight 962 correctly followed ATC instructions. Iran's Civil Aviation Authority concluded that the causes of the collision were: errors made by the military pilots of the Sukhoi Su-24 and air traffic controller error. The primary causes were: