Investigation Summary
The aircraft was operating an international cargo flight carrying meat from Kyrgyzstan to Iran. During the approach to Karaj, the flight crew encountered poor weather conditions and misidentified the runway at Fath Air Base as the runway for Payam International Airport. The aircraft involved was 42 years old and had a significant history; it was substantially damaged by an uncontained engine failure on August 3, 2009, while operating for Saha Air, but was subsequently repaired and returned to service. Fath Air Base is a military facility with a runway length cited by some sources as 1,300 meters (4,265 feet), though the available landing distance on runway 31L was approximately 1,140 meters (3,740 feet). In contrast, Payam International Airport features a much longer runway of 3,659 meters (12,005 feet). The Boeing 707, a heavy four-engine jet, was unable to stop within the limited distance available at Fath. After overrunning the paved surface, the aircraft struck a wall and entered a residential neighborhood in Farrokhabad. Although the houses struck were empty and no one on the ground was injured, the aircraft was destroyed by the impact and a subsequent fire. The flight engineer was the only survivor, rescued from the wreckage in critical condition.
Final Conclusions
The primary cause of the accident was the flight crew's misidentification of Fath Air Base as Payam International Airport, leading to a landing on a runway insufficient for the aircraft type. Specifically, the crew intended to land on Runway 30 at Payam but instead lined up for and landed on Runway 31L at Fath. Contributing factors included poor weather conditions and the close proximity and similar orientation of the two airfields. The investigation noted a similar near-miss involving a Taban Airlines MD-88 just two months prior, which had also mistakenly attempted to land at Fath.
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Systems & Failure Modes
Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
Recovered on the day of the accident to provide investigators with audio of the crew's coordination and identification of the airfield.
Flight Data Recorder (FDR)
Recovered from the wreckage to analyze the aircraft's flight path, speed, and braking performance during the overrun.
Control Display Unit (CDU)
The interface for the Flight Management System was recovered to determine what navigation data was programmed by the crew.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft involved was the last civil Boeing 707 in operation at the time of the crash.
- 02Fath Air Base's runway is only 1,300 meters long (with 1,140 meters of available landing distance), while a Boeing 707 typically requires at least 2,500 meters for landing.
- 03The two airports are located only a few kilometers apart and share a similar runway alignment.
- 04On November 16, 2018, a Taban Airlines MD-88 had nearly made the same mistake, descending to 1 meter above the Fath runway before aborting.
- 05The houses struck by the aircraft were unoccupied at the time, resulting in zero ground fatalities.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Aeronautical Chart Revision
In February 2019, AIRAC Cycle 02/2019 was released with modified approach charts for Payam Airport, explicitly warning pilots not to mistake Fath or Naja Airports for Payam due to similar runway alignments.
Location
ACCIDENT SITE · Coordinates taken from the wikipedia geotag.