“Excellent pilots, the probability of a technical fault is minimal”. UIA pilot shares his view on the plane crash in Iran

He believes the crew would have coped with a technical problem.

A UIA pilot who is listed on Facebook as Iurii Truepilot commented on the tragedy that happened this morning in Tehran. According to him, all crew members are professional pilots and flight attendants who trained other people, so the problem cannot lie with them.

According to him, over the past two years every pilot training session was held in Tehran, where they coped with severe engine failures on takeoff and extremely difficult weather conditions.

The aircraft itself, the pilot claims, was also in good condition.

Iurii Truepilot
UIA pilot

Friends, I am not an official representative, but I can state with confidence several facts that may answer some of your questions.
The crew. Excellent pilots. I have flown with each of them, and I am as sure of each of them as I am of myself. Lesha — a wonderful instructor who trained dozens of our first officers and captains. Volodya — an experienced captain with more than 10,000 flight hours and 8 years as a UIA captain. Sergey — formerly commander of the Blakytna Stezha unit of Ukraine's Military Transport Aviation, who as a civilian pilot mastered the Boeing-767 and Boeing-737. A master of his craft.

Training. Over the past two years, all our pilots, as fate would have it, trained in Tehran, a difficult mountain airport, and already felt at home there... coping without problems with severe engine failures on takeoff and extremely difficult weather conditions. The quality of flight training at UIA is recognised not only in Ukraine but also in Europe and even in the USA.

The aircraft. UR-PSR — one of the newest planes in Ukraine (3.5 years old). Excellent technical condition. Pilots really liked flying it because of its good flight characteristics and modern equipment. This plane came to us straight from the Boeing factory in 2016 and was a symbol that the company had managed to recover from the severe crisis caused by the war. The maintenance of UIA aircraft — is also an example.

Based on all of the above, the probability of a technical fault — is minimal, and the probability that the experienced crew could not have handled it — is even lower.

May the earth rest lightly...

Another pilot, now a former one and a classmate of aviation instructor Alexei Naumkin, who died in the crash, believes that 70% — the probability of a terrorist attack or air defence (anti-aircraft defence). The remaining 30% — engine failure.

Serhiy Chorny
former pilot

I give 30% to engine failure. In the photos of the wreckage there is an engine with two holes, as if the engine blades had flown out. But the casing has not two but dozens of punctures.
So the blades could have flown out after an external explosion.

The crew did not report an emergency to the ground. So depressurisation must have happened instantly. In an engine failure, fuel supply is cut off, including the fire extinguishers.

The flight continued on one engine.

I put the probability of a terrorist attack or air defence at 70%.

A UIA employee expressed condolences to all the families and loved ones of the deceased.

Elena Blinova
UIA employee

Whatever I say now will not be enough to express the full pain of this irreparable loss. I have no words. Only tears and bottomless pain...
Condolences to the families of the deceased crew and passengers, and strength to them to get through this.

I want to wish all the INhumans who, at such a moment, do not stop spewing bile toward UIA, to finally find humanity and conscience.

We all think this is happening somewhere out there, far away, not to us, but when it happens to people you flew with, walked around cities of the world with, wished a “pleasant flight” to, when you remember how many times you flew to this Tehran or on this very plane, on our Romeo... then the tragedy becomes very personal.

The crew does not die, they go up into the sky. Rest in peace, our dear Katya, Igor, Lera, Masha, Yulia, Denis, Vladimir, Alexei, Sergey.