Iran shot down plane with two Russian-made missiles, US official says

By Tara John, Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes, Fernando Alfonso III and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 2:07 a.m. ET, January 10, 2020
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5:08 a.m. ET, January 9, 2020

Airline: Unlikely that crash was due to "error"

From CNN’s Anastasia Graham-Yooll

Parts of the Ukrainian International Airlines plane are seen strewn at the site of the crash in Iran on Wednesday.
Parts of the Ukrainian International Airlines plane are seen strewn at the site of the crash in Iran on Wednesday. Chine Nouvelle/SIPA/Shutterstock

Given the level of the crew's experience, it's unlikely that the plane crash was the result of error, Ukrainian International Airlines vice president of operations Ihor Sosnovsky said in a statement on Wednesday.

Tehran airport is anything but a simple one. Therefore, for several years UIA has been using this airport to conduct training on Boeing 737 aircraft aimed at evaluating pilots' proficiency and ability to act in emergency cases. According to our records, the aircraft ascended as high as 2,400 meters. Given the crew's experience, error probability is minimal. We do not even consider such a chance.”

The airline also released the names of the pilots and crew, who died in the crash.

The pilots were:

  • Captain Volodymyr Gaponenko (11,600 hours on Boeing 737 aircraft including 5,500 hours as captain)
  • Instructor pilot Oleksiy Naumkin (12,000 hours on Boeing 737 aircraft including 6,600 hours as captain)
  • First officer Serhii Khomenko (7,600 hours on Boeing 737 aircraft)

The flight attendants were:

  • Ihor Matkov, chief flight attendant
  • Kateryna Statnik
  • Mariia Mykytiuk
  • Valeriia Ovcharuk
  • Yuliia Solohub
  • Denys Lykhno

9:56 p.m. ET, January 8, 2020

Get caught up: What we know about the Boeing plane crash in Ukraine

Emergency crews inspect the scene of the plane crash.
Emergency crews inspect the scene of the plane crash. Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

The cause of the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 plane crash today that killed all 176 people on board remains unknown as the investigation continues.

Here's what we do know:

  • Unlikely that crash was due to "error": Given the level of the crew's experience, it's unlikely that the plane crash was the result of error, Ukrainian International Airlines vice president of operations Ihor Sosnovsky said in a statement on Wednesday.
  • Aircraft built in 2016: Ukraine International Airlines said in a statement that the plane was a Boeing 737-800 NG, "built in 2016 and delivered directly to the airline from the manufacturer."
  • Crash under investigation: US intelligence is “taking a look at the crash” of the Ukrainian jet, a US official told CNN, as suspicions rise about what could have caused the jet to crash near the Tehran airport shortly after takeoff.
  • Moment before the crash: The Boeing 737-800 climbed to an altitude of nearly 8,000 feet before the aircraft's data suddenly disappeared, per FlightRadar 24. According to former FAA chief of staff Michael Goldfarb, that is "very unusual" and suggests a "catastrophic" incident, as opposed to engine failure. An airliner should be able to keep flying even if one engine fails, which means pilots normally have time to communicate and recover the aircraft.
  • Airlines' first crash: Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) was founded in 1992 as the national flag carrier, one year after Ukraine got independence from Moscow. According to its website, the airline operates 42 aircraft, connects Ukraine to 38 countries, and its base hub is Kiev's Boryspil International Airport. This is the first crash involving one of the carrier's planes.
  • Ukrainian flights suspended: The country's State Aviation Service (SAS) has suspended all Ukrainian airline flights over Iran’s airspace starting midnight January 9, Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said in a Facebook post.