Flight 752: Canada calls for changes to rules governing air accident investigations
In the context of discussions and controversies about how to handle the case of the downing of a Ukrainian plane in Iran, Canada plans to call for changes to global laws governing the investigation of air accidents at an international meeting.
Canada plans to call for changes to global rules governing investigations into air accidents such as the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 in the winter of 2019 at a meeting on air safety. The meeting is scheduled to be held virtually on Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the Canadian government.
Canadian Transport Minister Omar Al-Ghobra is set to call for reform of the rules at the "Safer Skies" summit in cases where the country conducting the investigation is the cause of the plane crash or has a role in its downing.
The virtual summit, organized by Transport Canada and the Safer Skies Advisory Committee, brings together international and civil aviation industry representatives, including representatives from the International Air Transport Association, to reduce the risk of aviation accidents in airspace over areas of tension and conflict.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), an independent agency, first called for changes to these rules in 2021. Noting the positive role of these rules, known in the aviation industry as “Annex 13,” the agency said that the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 had exposed their limitations.
The Transport Safety Board of Canada had emphasized that Iran, based on this same set of rules, remained in full control of all investigations into the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which killed 176 people, despite the clear role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the downing.
On January 8, 2019, a Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down by two missiles from the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force's defense system shortly after taking off from Tehran Airport.
Iran, which denied shooting down the plane for the first three days after the accident, finally said after releasing evidence and reports that it had been hit by a missile that the IRGC had mistaken the plane for a cruise missile and shot it down.
Iran did not cancel passenger flights, despite placing the Revolutionary Guard Corps on full alert at the time, a move some have described as providing a “human shield” to prevent a possible US retaliatory attack.
Source: DW
