Pete Collins Editor

Air Crash Investigations - Deadly Mistake - the Crash of Kish Airlines Flight Irk 7170 Pete Collins Editor

On February 10, 2004, around 11.30 local time, Kish Airlines Flight Irk 7170, a Fokker F27, operated a scheduled passenger flight from Kish Island, Republic of Iran, to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, a 35 minutes flight. The aircraft was designed and manufactured in the Netherlands and registered in the Islamic Republic of Iran. During the approach, in good visibility, to land on runway 12 of Sharjah International Airport, the aircraft was observed to pitch down and suddenly turn to the left. The aircraft continued to descend and turn at high pitch and roll angles and impacted a sandy area 2.6 nm from the runway threshold. A large explosion was seen. The aircraft was destroyed and there were 43 fatalities. The accident was attributed to the movement of the power levers of the propellers by a pilot (it is not known who) from the flight idle position into the ground control range, which led to an irreversible loss of flight control.