By Uche Mbah
Just as news filtered in that Iran has hit US Military bases in Iraq, a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed immediately after takeoff killing 176 passengers comprising 168 passengers and 9 crew members on board. Out of these there were said to be 147 Iranians and 32 non Iranians. It later crashed between Parand and Shahriar towns, a spokesperson for the Iranian Aviation authority said. There were no survivors.
The Plane, Flight PS 752, a Boeing 737-800 from Tehran to Kiev, was said to have lost contact with the control tower immediately after take-off from Imam Khomeini International Airport Wednesday. Iranian officials said on National television that there are no chances that anyone survived.
Immediately the plane crash was recorded, the Iranian authorities were quick to ascribe the cause of the crash to technical issues. The black box was not yet recovered, neither was it analyzed for the authorities to have come to such a conclusion. This has fueled speculations that the crash may have been a terrorist attack, although there is no evidence to link the Iranian attack on American military base to the plane crash at this time.
The Boeing 737-800 is a very common single-aisle, twin-engine jetliner preferred for short to medium-range flights. It is an older version of the 737 max 8 that flew into turbulence due to computer error from the manufactures. Airlines around the world see it as their preferred Aircraft.
Since the crisis involving Boeing 737 max 8, the American manufacturing concern has been battling to recover from the ban imposed on them by the American Civil Aviation Authority. The Aircraft had crashed twice for the same reasons-computer error-killing a cumulative number of 346 people, a situation that resulted in the the American Civil Aviation Authorities probing its own certification process. The cisis cost Boeing CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, his job. The Authorities have certified the Airline fit for the air, and could not explain the tragedies that followed the flight. Although Boeing made spirited efforts to keep the airline afloat, it remains grounded all over the world.
Now an older version of it has crashed.
Boeing has been at the forefront of the battle for the air between it, the European Airbus and Brazilian Bombardier. They have been the source of Aircraft for Nigerian local Aviators. In fact, both Air peace, backed by Fidelity Bank, and Arik were among Nigerians that ordered the troubled max 8. Unconfirmed reports traced the travails of the Air peace boss, Allen Onyema, to his wanting to switch allegiance from Boeing to Bombardier, since the Americans allegedly kept assuring him that the Max will soon have its ban lifted. Onyema had ordered ten Aircraft for his increasing fleet. The grounding of Max, however, did not effect the other members of the fleet.
