Ukrainian media tells a different story about the fatal Boeing 737 crash in Tehran

Lenta.ua, a prominent Ukrainian media outlet, has met an anonymous expert. The expert tells the Lenta’s readers why he is unconvinced in the technical malfunction of the doomed Boeing 737 800 NG and why he believes that in fact plane was shot down with some sort of portable SAM missile system. We’ve found his thoughts interesting. Please refer to the original article for further reading (in Russian). TheUnfilteredLens will just sum up some of his words.

It wasn’t bird strike

The plane was taking off at night. There are no dangerous bird flocks at night. It seems that the troubles began at the altitude of 2500m, which is far too high for any birds.

About the plane

Boeing 737 800 NG was a brand new aircraft, served only three years. It was well maintained and the pilots were highly professional. The type has lowest fatality rating. There is projected one hull loss for every 5.88 millions of departures. The expert tells that both the commander and the second pilot had a flight time of 11-12 thousands hours each.

(The witness recites the “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” prayer while filming the aircraft engulfed in flames makes it final approach)

Boeing 737 NG is an excellent and reliable aircraft. It has multilevel automatics in case of engine fire. It has manual cutoffs as well as automatically engaged fire extinguishers. With one engine left the aircraft is able to land safely. Due to high aerodynamic qualities it is possible to land it with all engines completely dead.

It is not unknown that engines burst in flames.

Midair fire and explosions

The footage shows two explosions. One of it hit the plane while it was midair. The cause for it is unknown. The fire, usually associated with the engine may as well be a major leak of the kerosene lighted by some external source. The aircraft lost some of its parts breaking up in mid-air prior to crash.

The Ukrainian expert speculates that in his view the most likely cause of the crash is deliberate targeted shot by anti-air portable missile. It can be a Soviet/Russian-made missile “Strela”, “Igla” or US-made “Stinger” as well as some others. He points out that the timeline of the catastrophic events is interwoven with political crisis:

• 00:11 UTC DoD reports on ballistic missile attack on US bases in Iraq
• 00:14 UTC Iran warns on second wave of attack is coming
• 01:18 UTC Iran launches bomber wings
• 01:42 UTC US Aviation authority declares Iran, Iraq and Persian gulf a no-fly zone for the civilian aircraft
• 02.38 UTC PS752 with 167 passengers on board and nine crew members depart from the Tehran airport
• 02.44 UTC Tracking lost at the absolute altitude of 7,925 feet, relative altitude of 4,620 feet.

An unusual aircraft with unusual cargo or passengers?

Unnamed Ukrainian expert states that PS752 was not a regular aircraft. It was diverted from other route for some sort of special mission. It somehow contradicts the passenger manifest though. One of the passenger of the crashed Boeing was Elena Malakhova, CEO of “Skyaviatrans” air carrier. “Skyaviatrans” has done a highly suspicious deliveries to Lybia and lost IL-76 cargo plane there. Officially it was delivering humanitarian aid, but it is not the case.

Ukrainian embassy in Iran was quick to declare the crash as a result of technical issues. They retracted the statement very quickly without giving any reasons.