The 90th Article Commission Protests the Transfer of the Black Box of the Aseman Airplane to France

A member of the board of the 90th Article Commission stated that this commission has protested the transfer of the black box of the Aseman airplane that crashed on the Tehran-Yasuj route to France. Bahram Parsai said in a public session of the parliament on Wednesday, March 6, "This supervisory commission of the parliament opposes sending the black box of the Aseman airplane to France and it should be read in the presence of experts from the 90th Article Commission and within the country." The Civil Aviation Organization announced on Tuesday that the black box of the ATR airplane that crashed on the Tehran-Yasuj flight path would be transferred to France as soon as possible due to compliance with certain technical and specialized issues. The ATR airplane is a joint product of France and Italy. A French team had previously traveled to Iran to investigate the causes of the Tehran-Yasuj airplane crash but could not reach the accident site in the Dena Mountains. The Civil Aviation Organization also stated that the reading of the black box would be conducted with the presence of representatives from Iran and France. However, Mr. Parsai mentioned that the 90th Article Commission requested the presence of a representative from this commission in all oversight stages in correspondence with the Civil Aviation Organization and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development. This parliament member accused the Civil Aviation Organization of not cooperating with the 90th Article Commission and said, "Why are they worried that they do not want a representative and expert from this commission to be present in the investigation stages of the accident?" He expressed regret over the black box being sent to France and said, "We say that if reading is not possible, you can send the executed file to the ATR company." In response to this representative's statements, Ali Motahari, the second deputy speaker of the parliament, said, "Regarding whether the black box should be examined inside Iran or not, we must refer to international laws." The ATR 72 model 200 airplane belonging to Aseman Airlines crashed in the Dena Mountains on February 18 with 60 passengers and six crew members on board. This airplane was nearly 24 years old and had first flown in 1993. The mentioned airplane is a joint production of France and Italy, and its engines were produced by Pratt & Whitney in Canada. Although speculations about the causes of this airplane's crash have been raised by experts, more precise answers depend on the reading of the airplane's black box. The Civil Aviation Organization has temporarily suspended the flights of ATR model 200 and 500 airplanes belonging to Aseman Airlines. In related news, a parliament member reported a "physical altercation" during the transfer of the Aseman airplane's black box. The Iranian Minister of Labor stated that the crashed airplane had no prior technical problems.