One of Mahan Air's smuggled 777s, EP-MTC, was allegedly destroyed during a strike on Mashhad International Airport on March 29th, new photos show

Posted by Hot_Net_4845@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 85 comments

As far as I know these photos are unconfirmed, so take with a relatively large amount of salt. EP-MTC's last flight according to FR24 was on March 28th with the aircraft operating as W5106.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/569834

https://xcancel.com/Osinttechnical/status/2049962287620833710

https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-777-200-ep-mtc-mahan-air/rokwle

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TheMegaPetabyte@reddit

That is crazy. I saw this plane in person while transiting in PVG on Mar 19.

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TheVoicesSpeakToMe@reddit

This looks very intentional. 0 damage around the plane. Just interesting to see “civilian” assets being targeted in these strikes.

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fd6270@reddit

Ah yes, "civilian" assets

On 12 December 2011, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced the designation of Mahan Air as a material and transportation supporter of terrorism, "for providing financial, material and technological support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF). Based in Tehran, Mahan Air provides transportation, funds transfers, and personnel travel services to the IRGC-QF."

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Main_Significance478@reddit

Are you sure "interesting" is the most accurate word to describe it?

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RustyPlastics@reddit

Cockpit, engines and landing gear still look good. Looks flyable to me.

Further details on r/shittyflying

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I_DRINK_URINE@reddit

The cockpit seems to be completely separated from the rest of the plane. I think that might be an issue? Not sure though.

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RustyPlastics@reddit

no, as long as there is enough space to mount the engines on the side it will work 🔥

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GodsWorth01@reddit

Add some right rudder and we’re flying

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Martin8412@reddit

Some speed tape and percussive maintenance will buff that right out.

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saruyamasan@reddit

Good for protecting pilots from terrorists storming the cockpit.

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chicken2007@reddit

In the IT world, we call that an air gap. Definitely more secure that way.

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scholar97@reddit

Throw some speed tape on it it’ll be good

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AbideMan@reddit

As long as we can still fly half a plane we're fine

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kerenosabe@reddit

I, for one, wouldn't want to fly on a plane powered by those engines.

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TenaciousLilMonkey@reddit

I’ll take the engines over the fuselage

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MAVACAM@reddit

Looks pretty good to me, I reckon this Triple can be dispatched on MEL.

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Hot_Net_4845@reddit (OP)

TLDR: they used a bunch of fronts to get around the sanctions

https://youtu.be/mL_OurMlkq0

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Popular-Rock6853@reddit

* Sighs. *

Another wendoverproduction channel to subscribe to.

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CptTurnersOpticNerve@reddit

are there more than 2? I love both channels I've found.

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Popular-Rock6853@reddit

It seems there are three and I only knew about one!

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crucible@reddit

Wendover, Half as Interesting and Jet Lag: The Game

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P01135809-Trump@reddit

Is that one of the discarded fronts lying next to it in the photo?

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Basically Iran had a US-registered shell company buy 5 former Singapore Airlines 777s from an aircraft boneyard at Alice Springs, Australia, flew them to China then to Cambodia and sold them to another shell company based in Madagascar, flew them on a strange route to “Africa” which just so happened to take them over Afghanistan, turned off their transponders over Afghanistan and landed them in Iran.

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BiggusDijkus@reddit

There's an explainer video on YouTube. It popped up on my TV. Don't know how to find again

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C402Pilot@reddit

Half as Interesting. AKA Wendover Productions

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ManWithTheWand@reddit

Aren't those separate channels or am I confused?

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RipCurl69Reddit@reddit

Yes but ran by the same guy, Sam. He also does a gameshow called Jet Lag but I've yet to check it out

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ManWithTheWand@reddit

oh damn, thanks, I didn't know. I got downvoted for a simple question lol.

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eggoeater@reddit

Don't worry. I voted you back up.

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crucible@reddit

You’re only 17 seasons behind :P

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crucible@reddit

Yes but they have the same narrator and editors.

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ps2sunvalley@reddit

Kind of. It’s Sam from Wendover and Sam from Half as Interesting. As far as I know, nobody has ever seen them in the same place.

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Ryan_225@reddit

Link to said video here

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DaimonHans@reddit

Just hide it from plane sight!

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LowEmergencyCaptain@reddit

Disguise it as something else

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MoeSzyslakMonobrow@reddit

Really big fake glasses with the nose and mustache.

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ContributionEasy6513@reddit

By air usually.

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lemon_o_fish@reddit

It's surprisingly easy. I have a family member who brokered a sale with an Iranian airline. The shell company they used looked so fake that I thought my family member was getting scammed at one point, yet no one batted an eye.

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Wentz_ylvania@reddit

I know a guy if you're buying...

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bherman13@reddit

The tail wouldn't still be up off the ground in the first picture

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Thebraincellisorange@reddit

it looks like its resting on the service truck.

which makes me want to call shennanigans as the trucks front suspension is not compressed at all and the windscreen appears to be undamaged.

with that much weight coming down on top of a truck cab, I would say the cab would crush enough for the windscreen to break.

something fucky, as they say.

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Thebraincellisorange@reddit

now I don't know what they use for the suspension on the front of that truck that is underneath the tail in the first picture, but I would have thought it would compress a bit with all that weight of the plane on the cab.

not too mention the cab would crush down as well, they are not very strongly built.

I am calling shennanigans on this one.

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ErmakDimon@reddit

imagine going through all of the work smuggling it in and seeing it get destroyed without even entering service, I'd be properly pissed if I was one of the Mahan Air guys

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smooth_talker45@reddit

Mahan air is kinda owned by the irgc

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ErmakDimon@reddit

That's like saying Aeroflot is kinda owned by the Russian army.

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MaksweIlL@reddit

Aeroflot owned by Putin, Russian army owned by Putin.

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sodium_hydride@reddit

Mahan Air actually are though.

Iran Air is the government owned official national airline of Iran.

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torlesse@reddit

Sure, but that's completely irrelevant.

A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will

Doubt who actually owns it even entered the conversation.

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Ramenastern@reddit

Is it me or did the tail as it tilted when the front separated also take out that ground truck?

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Hot_Net_4845@reddit (OP)

I believe so. I think I saw somewhere that they were servicing the APU, hence the ground vehicle being there, but I can't find it anymore

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Ramenastern@reddit

Cheers. Curious downvote I got there for asking that question given it's just not super in focus on the first picture.

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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alpha_epsilion@reddit

Hull loss; good for cannibalism of parts

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mpg111@reddit

it may require a 777F full of speed tape to fix

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aromilk@reddit

Former SQ plane

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Main_Violinist_3372@reddit

Is it actually legal to target empty civilian airliners in war? Or is it “fair game” if said civilian airliners were used to transport military supplies slash act as troop transports?

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