
Boeing 737-800 Passenger Jet Crashes in Iran Due to Technical Issue - frutiger
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-08/boeing-737-passenger-jet-crashes-in-iran-due-to-technical-issue
======
dang
There's almost no information here—not nearly enough for a substantive
discussion. We should wait until more becomes available.

On HN, there's no harm in waiting:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20%22no%20harm%20in%20waiting%22&sort=byDate&type=comment)

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tyingq
737-800, not a MAX. ALJazeera has better detail than the linked story.

[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ukrainian-airliner-
cr...](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ukrainian-airliner-crashes-
tehran-iranian-media-200108032720868.html)

Here's the specific tail number / aircraft:
[https://www.flightera.net/planes/UR-PSR](https://www.flightera.net/planes/UR-
PSR)

Crash site photo:
[https://twitter.com/isna_farsi/status/1214762556289667077](https://twitter.com/isna_farsi/status/1214762556289667077)

~~~
duelingjello
That makes it a 737 NG. The NG’s structural components were mostly
manufactured (badly) by a subcontractor, Ducommun, but Boeing insisted on
installing them anyhow. In 2010, there was a cover-up and a whistleblower; Al
Jazeera broke it in a long-form documentary that apparently no one watched.

------
ogre_codes
Considering the current climate, be interesting to see who was on the plane
and/ or what the fallout from this is.

Assuming this isn't some kind of political attack, you have to wonder how much
this is due to Iran's inability to trade due to sanction would impact its
airlines ability to get updates to their aircraft. (Update: Not an Iranian jet
so likely not an issue)

Which suggests Russia might be at the heart of this. Back to the original
question about who was on the plane.

~~~
jlgaddis
Geez. The fire from wreckage is probably not even out yet and you've done dove
headfirst off of "speculation" cliff!

In your defense, though, you certainly aren't the only one. There's nothing
but rampant speculaion in this thread -- some from folks who should know
better.

------
WaxProlix
What a bingo card of an article. Iran, Ukraine, 737.

Synchronicity (or pareidolia?) makes me want to think there's intentionality
here, when in reality it's probably just a tragedy.

~~~
mey
No matter what happened, it is a tragedy.

~~~
ethbro
Seriously.

180 people crashed in an airliner. Even for HN, have a little compassion.

~~~
WaxProlix
Absolutely, it's easy to lose sight of it from such a vantage point.

------
pcurve
[https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-
tracker/PS/752?year=20...](https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-
tracker/PS/752?year=2020&month=1&date=8&flightId=1027215904)

Interesting it's showing as en-route.

n/m. Bloomberg updated it with better tracker.
[https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ps752#23732569](https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ps752#23732569)

------
war1025
I wonder if the "technical" issue would have anything to do with measures we
(the US) may currently be taking against Iran?

Could just be a Boeing related error, but that is definitely one of the
hottest places in the world tonight.

Edit:

Just so this isn't misconstrued as me implying that the US shot down the plane
or something, I meant some sort of passive signal scrambling type thing that
would confuse instruments on the plane.

Not knowing a lot about the technical possibilities of all this, just
wondering.

~~~
mopsi
Navigation systems are built on very conservative assumptions. They fall back
to autonomous inertial guidance, if satellite and ground-based navigation aids
become unavailable. This reduces airspace throughput (airplanes need larger
separation distances due to lower navigation accuracy), but is completely
safe.

See:
[https://aviation.stackexchange.com/a/2276](https://aviation.stackexchange.com/a/2276)

------
bbddg
Interesting timing to say the least.

------
tempsy
Video and reports suggest it was accidentally shot down. It’s not even a
question when you see it.

There’s no way state media could’ve concluded it was a “technical issue” so
quickly. They are trying to pass blame on Boeing but they really messed this
one up.

~~~
cjbprime
It's worth not trying to understand what happened in the first few hours,
you'll rarely be correct.

The video could have been an old one that someone uploaded as misinformation.

The video can show you that the plane looks like it was shot down, but it
can't show you that it was done accidentally by Iranian military.

The "reports" of it being accidentally shot down could just have been made up
by someone, unsourced. Actually, it looks like they're coming from Al Hadath,
which appears to be a Saudi-controlled news TV channel.

~~~
tempsy
I’m pretty confident on this one. So much so I will buy some Boeing stock if
it irrationally crashes tomorrow as futures are suggesting

------
m0zg
As if things could not get even worse for Boeing. Double the attention from
the press, and I'm sure it'll also be misreported to hell and back. They might
even have to fire the bean counter CEO they've just appointed.

------
anewguy9000
it seems like every day there is a new 737/747 plane headline on hn. what
gives? is it _that_ interesting??

~~~
duelingjello
No 747 has been used for mainstream commercial passenger service for almost a
year because it’s an old, uneconomical design that simply can’t compete
anywhere except in cargo.

~~~
pintxo
Are you sure?

According to this [1,2,3] there are currently 99 747s in the air, a quick
check [4,5,6,7] shows, that at least some are passenger planes.

[1]
[https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/](https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/)

[2]
[https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B744](https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B744)

[3]
[https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B748](https://de.flightaware.com/live/aircrafttype/B748)

[4]
[https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW117/history/202001...](https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW117/history/20200108/0835Z/EGLL/KJFK)

[5] [https://british-airways.flight-status.info/ba-117](https://british-
airways.flight-status.info/ba-117)

[6]
[https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH462/history/202001...](https://de.flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH462/history/20200108/0910Z/EDDF/KMIA)

[7] [https://lufthansa.flight-status.info/lh-462](https://lufthansa.flight-
status.info/lh-462)

