Caspian Airlines Flight 7908

The aircraft was a Tupolev Tu-154M built in 1987 and operated by Iran's Caspian Airlines, according to a spokesman for Iran's aviation agency. an aircraft which entered service on 20 April 1987 as YA-TAR for Bakhtar Afghan Airlines and was sold to Ariana Afghan Airlines in 1988. YA-TAR served with Ariana Afghan until sold to Caspian Airlines on 15 March 1998, 11 years after it was built. It was re-registered as EP-CPG in 1999. The aircraft was checked for safety in June 2009 and was given a flight licence until 2010. This was also stated by an Armenian aviation official, saying that the plane had gone through technical controls in Mineralnye Vody Airport in southern Russia in June. ==Accident==

The aircraft crashed at 11:33 Iran Daylight Time (07:03 UTC), 16 minutes after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport. According to authorities, the aircraft's tail suddenly caught on fire. The pilot circled, trying to find a safe spot to land, but without success. The aircraft was destroyed after it crashed into a field, carving a crater up to deep. An eyewitness who claims to have been within of the crash site described the event as if "the plane just fell out of the sky". Three hours after the crash, fires over a area still remained. A witness told Fars News Agency: The aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were found on 16 July. However, one of the "black boxes" was reported by Chief Investigator Ahmad Majidi to be damaged. Both flight recorders were successfully accessed and contributed data to the accident investigation. ==Passengers==

Nationalities It is reported that 38 (including two crew members) of the 168 passengers were Iranian nationals. 40 passengers were citizens of Armenia. There were also two Georgians on board, and two dual-national Iranian Australians. There were also two dual national Iranian-Americans. ==Aftermath==

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has expressed his sympathy for the deceased and their families. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on 15 July 2009 declaring the following day a Day of Mourning in Armenia. ==Investigation==

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced on 15 July that a governmental commission had been set up to investigate the crash. It would be headed by Vice Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan. A final accident report was likely released by the Iranian authorities in 2011, although it did not come to wider attention until it was partially translated into English in 2019. The report found that the accident had been caused by fatigue failure of the first stage rotor of the low pressure compressor in engine No. 1, that resulted in the rotor disc disintegrating. Fragments from the rotor disc destroyed engine No. 1, severed the No. 1 and No. 3 hydraulic systems, and partially severed the fuel lines to engine No. 2. Hot components and hydraulic fluid ignited fuel spilling from the damaged fuel lines, and rapidly caused a large fire in the tail section of the plane. This fire, in turn, destroyed rods that actuated the rear control surfaces (elevators and rudder) resulting in the pilots losing control of the aircraft. Prior to the accident the aircraft manufacturer, Tupolev, had released a service bulletin requiring more stringent testing of low pressure compressor components. However, this was only provided in Russian to Russian operators. Six days after the crash of EP-CPG, Tupolev released equivalent service bulletins to all operators. ==See also==