Afghanistan

The aircraft was on a non-scheduled international cargo flight from Beirut, Lebanon to Kabul, Afghanistan via Kuwait, carrying a crew of three. The trip to Kuwait was uneventful, and it arrived there at 0036 hours GMT on 12 December. Departure from Kuwait for Kabul was at 0256 hours and the flight reported passing Kandahar at 0838 and Kalat at 0900 flying at flight level 110. While en route the aircraft was provided with the Kandahar and Kabul weather. At 0942 hours it reported passing Ghazni at 0940, flying at flight level 150 and estimated its arrival time at Kabul as 10 10 hours. However, at 0958 (i. e. 12 minutes before ETA) it reported overhead Kabul and requested the latest weather situation which was provided. As the aircraft could not land at Kabul because of the weather conditions it reported at 0959 hours that it was diverting to Lahore. Shortly thereafter it reported it was proceeding to Zahedan via Ghazni (ETA 1025), Kandahar (ETA 1130) Zahedan (ETA 13 15). It would maintain flight level 150 to Ghazni, 130 to Kandahar and 110 to Zahedan. At 1003 hours the Kabul tower passed the Kandahar weather to the flight and 5 minutes later the flight reported it was 25 miles out from Kabul, at flight level 150. The aircraft was then cleared by Kabul tower to route frequency and nothing further was heard from it. The wreckage of the aircraft was first sighted on 16 August 1964, after the snow had melted, at an elevation of 13 940 ft amsl in the Koh-i-Safid Mountains 50 NM west of Ghazni and 42 NM from the approved air route. The coordinates of the accident site were estimated to be 33° 37' N 67° 35' E. The time of the accident was some time after 1015 hours GMT on 12 December 1963. The wreckage was found by Afghan soldiers on 16 August 1964.

Flight IR123 was a scheduled international cargo flight from Kabul, Afghanistan to Tehran, Iran. The co-pilot was in the left-hand seat and pilot flying at the commencement of the takeoff run. The aircraft was cleared for takeoff on runway 29 at 13:13. When accelerating for takeoff the pilot-in-command noticed that the propeller of the no. 1 engine was overspeeding and surging as high as 3300 rpm. As the aircraft approached an indicated airspeed of about 80 kts the captain took command. He noticed that the aircraft was headed to the left away from the runway centreline towards three runway lights in a concrete footing at the left edge of the runway. To avoid a possible collision with these lights the captain applied elevator control and lifted the aircraft off the runway. The overspeeding propeller condition did not subside although he followed the procedure prescribed in the operations manual for corrective action. The flight path was about 30 to 45° to the left of the runway and in the general direction of the Kabul Airport terminal building so the captain attempted to turn the aircraft further to the left to avoid collision with the building. About 325 ft from the south edge of runway 29 the left wing contacted the ground and the aircraft crashed.

While cruising in a snowstorm, the airplane hit the slope of a mountain located about 50 km from Herat. The wreckage was found few days later and all 21 occupants were killed.

On final approach to Kabul Airport at night, the airplane crashed in a snow cover field and was destroyed. Both occupants were injured and the diplomatic mail was damaged.