Iranian passenger jet’s wheel catches fire

Thursday, August 13, 2009

A wheel on an Aseman Airlines Fokker 100 regional jet caught fire late on Tuesday night after landing in Isfahan, Iran following a flight from Tehran.

It is unclear if the aircraft landed normally or experienced a hard landing, with accounts conflicting. It is known that after landing the crew noticed that the brake temperature in one of the wheels was unusually high as they left the runway, and requested that fire crews responded before the passengers disembarked.

When emergency services arrived they discovered that the wheel was alight, and the fire was extinguished. The plane then proceeded to the ramp, and the passengers left the jet as normal. The plane subsequently departed as scheduled the following morning.

Air accidents are common in Iran, which has an aging fleet that is poorly maintained both for civil and military operations. International sanctions have meant that new aircraft cannot be purchased. Earlier this week, a police helicopter crash killed three people and wounded three more. Last month Iran saw its worst air disaster in years when an airliner heading to Armenia crashed, killing the 168 on board. The same month saw another airliner overrun a runway at Mashhad and strike a wall, killing seventeen.