Crashed Iranian helicopter was US-made and may be so old it predates the 1979 Islamic Revolution
Thibault Spirlet
Mon, May 20, 2024

Wreckage of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter at the crash site on a mountain in the Varzaghan area, northwestern Iran, May 20, 2024.Azin Haghighi / Moj News Agency/Anadolu via Getty Images


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• Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash aboard a US-made Bell 212, according to reports.

• The helicopter was between 40 and 50 years of age, experts told Reuters, based on available data.

• US sanctions may have prevented Iran from adequately maintaining the helicopter, one analyst said.

The helicopter that crashed on Sunday with Iran's president on board was US-made and may have been in service since before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to reports.

President Ebrahim Raisi and his entourage were flying on a US-made Bell 212 helicopter, per Iran International, when it crashed into a hillside in Iran's mountainous northwest, killing all on board.

The group was returning from a ceremony marking a dam opening near the country's border with Azerbaijan, per Al Jazeera.

The US developed the Bell 212 in the mid-1960s in cooperation with the Canadian government, according to WeaponsSystem.net, and it was first put into service in 1971. Production ended in 1998.

Until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran was one of the US' closest allies in the region.

Experts said that the few details provided about the accident suggest that the helicopter that crashed could have been between 40 and 50 years old, per Reuters.

If true, flying such a plane is "simply suicidal," said Julian Röpcke, Security Policy and Conflicts Senior Editor at Bild, a German tabloid.

(Bild and Business Insider share a parent company, Axel Springer.)

Roland Dangerfield, a former British Army officer and the CEO of Sentinel Aviation, said the helicopter's age and model were less important than its level of maintenance.

He told BI that aircraft dating back to the 1940s are flying over the UK "perfectly safely," while in the US B-52 bombers have been around since the 1950s.

"The key to this is whether the helicopter was maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's maintenance regime," he said.

But Dangerfield said that US trade embargoes and restrictions on helicopter parts may have prevented the Iranian regime from maintaining the Bell 212.

Iran's former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, drew a similar conclusion, saying US sanctions — which prohibit Iran from purchasing US-built aircraft and parts — could be partly to blame for the crash.

Raisi's death is just the latest incident involving helicopters and planes crashing while flying in heavy fog.

Bell 212 helicopters have been involved in 432 accidents, resulting in 639 fatalities, since 1972, including Raisi's crash on Sunday, according to a database updated and held by the Flight Safety Foundation.