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2018 Iran Bombardier Challenger crash

11 Mar 2018 · Zagros Mountains, near Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran

Başaran Holding Bombardier Challenger 604 · Loss of control in cruise

From Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) to İstanbul Atatürk Airport (ISL)

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Event

NTSB case
DCA18WA106
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Final · Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic… final report, 10 Mar 2020 
Event fatalities
11 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
Occupants
11
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Not recorded

Bombardier Challenger 604

Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
TC-TRB
Onboard fatalities
11
Route
From Sharjah International Airport (SHJ)To İstanbul Atatürk Airport (ISL)
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Unknown
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Emergency descent
Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Unknown or undetermined
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
  • Personnel issues › Miscellaneous
  • Aircraft › Aircraft systems

From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

On 11 March 2018, a Bombardier Challenger 604 private jet, owned by Turkish group Başaran Holding, crashed in the Zagros Mountains near Shahr-e Kord, Iran, while returning to Istanbul from Sharjah. All three crew members and eight passengers on board were killed.

Investigation and cause

Investigation

The aircraft's two flight recorders (the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder) were recovered for analysis.

In September 2018, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board of the Iranian civil aviation authority published a preliminary report indicating that, shortly before reaching cruise altitude, a discrepancy between the airspeed indications shown to the two pilots became apparent, with one indicating an overspeed condition. Engine power was reduced, and shortly after the stick-shaker activated. The aircraft subsequently stalled and entered a steep descent during which both engines flamed out. Control was not regained and the aircraft eventually struck a mountainside. In March 2020, the AAIB issued its final report, concluding that the accident was caused by insufficient training for airspeed indication failure and poor crew resource management.

Text from the Wikipedia article “2018 Iran Bombardier Challenger crash” (revision 1374207171, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

NTSB narrative

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has informed the NTSB of an accident involving a Challenger 604, which occurred on March 11, 2018, in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

All investigative information will be released by the government of Iran.

Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset

Sources

Wikipedia article: 2018 Iran Bombardier Challenger crash
Article
2018 Iran Bombardier Challenger crash
Revision
1374207171 · 2026-09-10 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q50404279
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA18WA106
Event ID
20180321X95714
Case number
DCA18WA106
Dataset
full-current
Source SHA-256
5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "2018 Iran Bombardier Challenger crash" (page 56819150, revision 1374207171); merged with NTSB case DCA18WA106 (events / aircraft)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date; matches the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) final report
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates; matches the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) final report
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA18WA106
Operation
Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A private business jet owned by a Turkish company and flown for it: corporate aviation. The article: "a Bombardier Challenger 604 private jet, owned by Turkish group Başaran Holding"
Fatalities
Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities; matches the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) final report
Ground fatalities
Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) final report
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
  • One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2018 Iran Bombardier Challenger crash" and NTSB case DCA18WA106, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
  • No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.
  • Checked against the Civil Aviation Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) final report (2020-03-10) on 2026-09-18. The report states the same date, crash-site coordinates, fatalities, registration, departure, destination and damage. Taken from the report: ground fatalities. Shown unchanged where the report gives another value or wording: operator (shown Başaran Holding; report MC Aviation). Not checked: place, flight number, aircraft type and type of operation.