At about 11:45 am on July 15, an Iranian Russian-made TU-154 (Tupolev-154) passenger plane crashed near Gazvin, a city 120 km from Tehran. Iran's official media subsequently announced that all 168 passengers and crew on board were killed.

The Caspian Airlines flight 7908 took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, Iran's capital, at 11:30 am on July 15 and was bound for Armenia's capital Yerevan. It crashed near Jannatabad village, six kilometers away from Gazvin.

168 people were on board, including 153 passengers, including two children and 15 crew members, Iran's state-run TV station reported. There were 20 to 25 Armenian passengers and some Georgians, the rest were all Iranians. An airport official has confirmed that there were no Chinese passengers on board.

The TU-154 passenger plane that crashed in Iran was an older model, which is widely used by low-cost airlines like Caspian. The reason behind the plane crash has yet to be investigated, but potential safety hazards like ageing plane parts are inevitable due to the long service period of the plane.

This crash in Iran is the third global air disaster with more than a hundred deaths within a month. It is another alarm call for the global civil aviation industry. Although airlines have all rushed to reduce costs amid the global financial crisis, aviation safety should not be neglected. Aviation safety standards also need to be strictly enforced to guard against possible dangers. Only by doing this can good operational performance be achieved during an economic downturn.

As for the reasons behind aviation accidents, generally speaking, air disasters are less likely to be caused by a plane's safety issues than by pilot error, adverse weather conditions and other accidents. The high frequency of thunderstorms and changing weather conditions in summer has a greater influence on flights.

Although recently aviation accidents have occurred frequently and may have some psychological effect on tourists, most remain confident in the safety of air travel.

By People's Daily Online

http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-07/16/content_297010.htm