Engine Malfunction Unlikely Reason for Ukrainian Plane Crash in Iran - Expert
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2020) The currently available evidence throws a theory that an engine malfunction was behind the Ukrainian Boeing crash in Iran into question, Neil Hansford, the chairman of the Strategic Aviation Solutions consultancy, told Sputnik on Thursday, suggesting that a bomb on board or stray ordnance might have been behind the accident.
The Boeing 737-800 plane, flying to Kiev, crashed on Wednesday near Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport soon after takeoff, killing all 176 people on board. The accident took place minutes after Iran's massive rocket attack on US bases in Iraq in response to the killing of the Quds Force commander, Qasem Soleimani. Tehran has said, citing preliminary data, that the reason behind the indecent was a technical malfunction, while US President Donald Trump has expressed his doubts about that being the case. Meanwhile, US media reported, citing US intelligence sources, that the plane might have been downed by an Iranian missile by mistake. The sources reportedly said that infrared blips of two missile launches had been detected, followed by another infrared blip of an explosion.
"Judging by the video and photos of the crash (wide-spread debris with fire) could it be an engine failure, as preliminary said by the Ukrainian embassy in Iran? .
.. It had taken off and should have been at around 10,000 feet and would not have got there on one engine. If an engine [catches] fire, it can take off on one engine and return to the airport. An engine failure would not generate a massive explosion in flight. It is a bomb on board or stray military ordnance just like MH17," Hansford said, referring to the Malaysian flight that crashed in eastern Ukraine.
Hansford added that normally, you can land a plane even if one of its engines is disabled. The expert noted that there was no indication that the plane attempted to turn back nor there were voice recordings to show if the crew made an emergency call or requested a return to the airport or divert to another airport.
The expert also suggested that a malfunction of the plane transponder was unlikely.
"Would an engine failure or even fire normally disable the jet's transponders right away (as the ones on the Ukrainian International Airlines jet seem to have switched off mid-air, before the crash)? Again the answer is no," Hansford said.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has listed several possible reasons behind the incident, including an attack by an anti-aircraft missile, an explosion resulting from a terror attack, and an engine explosion due to a technical malfunction.