July 9,
2008: On July 7th, an Iranian F-5
fighter crashed during a training exercise. One could understand that, as the
F5 was an American built jet fighter Iran bought over three decades ago. Spare
parts have been hard to come by, but Iran has managed, sort of.
The big
problem is not the loss of three decade old U.S. jet fighters, but the many
other older transports and airliners that have been going down. In the last six
years, there have been at least a dozen crashes, leaving about 700 passengers
and crew dead. Most of the downed aircraft were not American. Many of the lost
aircraft were Russian, a nation that has no problems selling Iran aircraft
parts. So what's the problem? Simple. Iranian aircraft maintenance sucks.
That's because a lousy economy and a really bothersome lifestyle police have
caused many technically skilled people to flee the country. Plenty of competent
Iranian aircraft mechanics and engineers
in southern California, not so many in Iran.
To make
matters worse, anything involving aviation in Iran, gets a lot of attention
from the secret police. Anyone of questionable loyalty to the clerical
theocracy (that runs the country) is not suitable for key jobs (be they
technical or managerial.) As a result, many organizations in Iran, especially
government controlled ones, are poorly run. That can be fatal for passengers in
Iranian aircraft. There are plenty of dead bodies and aircraft wreckage to
prove it. It also says a lot about the
readiness and capabilities of the ships and aircraft of the Iranian armed
forces.
