1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash
Lockheed C-130 Hercules · Crashed into structure
From Ahvaz, Khuzestan province to Tehran
Event
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 80 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 20
- Occupants
- 60
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Military
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed C-130
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- 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
- 5-8552
- Operator
- Iranian Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 60
- Route
- From Ahvaz, Khuzestan provinceTo Tehran
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 29 September 1981, an Iranian Air Force C-130 military cargo aircraft crashed into a firing range near Kahrizak, Iran. The plane was flying from Ahvaz, Khuzestan province to Tehran, while returning from an inspection tour of Iranian military gains in the Iran–Iraq War.
The crashed killed 80 people, including former Defence Minister Javad Fakoori, then-Defence Minister Mousa Namjoo, then-Chief-of-Staff of the Army Valiollah Fallahi, and then-commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohammad Jahanara.
Background
In order to break the Siege of Abadan, the Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh was performed from 27 to 29 September 1981. To transfer the report of the Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh to Tehran, it was decided that several Iranian military leaders were to return to Tehran by a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft.
Crash
At 19:00 local time (15:30 UTC) on 29 September 1981, the C-130 cargo aircraft crashed into a firing range near Kahrizak, Iran. The plane was flying from Ahvaz in southwestern Khuzestan province to Tehran, while returning from an inspection tour of Iranian military gains in the Iran–Iraq War.
Investigation and cause
Causes
There was no official explanation given for reasons of the crash, and just one source called it the result of a "technical fault". On the other hand, in a speech following the incident Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini made a reference to Mujahedeen Khalq as the perpetrator without clearly condemning the leftist group.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash” (revision 1371198252, 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
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash
- Revision
- 1371198252 · 2026-08-25 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q5933282
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1981 Iranian Air Force C-130 crash" (page 58433589, revision 1371198252)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.