Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv on 8th January 2020.
The Boeing 737-800 was shot down shortly after departure from missile strikes. All 176 passengers and crew were killed.
On 17th March 2021, Iran’s CAO released its final report. The report was released in both Persian and English.
According to the report:
Cause of the Accident
The air defense’s launching two surface-to-air missiles at the flight PS752, UR-PSR aircraft, the detonation of the first missile warhead in the proximity of the aircraft caused damage to the aircraft systems, and the intensification of damage led the aircraft to crash into the ground and explode instantly.
Other Contributing Factors
- The mitigating measures and defense layers in risk management proved to be ineffective due to the occurrence of an unanticipated error in threat identifications and ultimately failed to protect the flight safety against the threats caused by the alertness of defense forces. In addition to the facts reported in the preliminary report, the CAO states: Every State has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory, and no aircraft may be operated over airspace except with the permission of the State managing that airspace. Each state has the authority to limit the operation over the airspace managed by them.
On the other hand, the States have oversight on the safety of airlines for which they have issued certificates and may impose restrictions on their activities in accordance with the laws and regulations they enact.
Further, airlines are inherently responsible for the safety of their operation and shall ensure the safety of the routes in which they conduct flights.
One of the factors potentially hazardous to flight safety is military activities. Therefore, the States managing the airspace, the ones that have oversight on the airline activities as well as the airlines themselves shall gather information related to military activity hazards, conduct a relevant risk assessment and adopt mitigating measures to maintain the associated risk within acceptable levels.
As can be seen in Figure 42, the State managing the airspace may impose restrictions over its own airspace, which can include the prohibition on entry into certain geographical areas, limitations on some routes, flight altitude, and some of the normal procedures.
Naturally, the State can impose restrictions on the operations of operators certified by them, beyond those done by the State managing the airspace.
The airline shall comply with the restrictions imposed by the State managing the airspace and those of the one that has certified their operation. However, they may consider more operation-related restrictions in that airspace to ensure their desired level of safety.