Rome, 20 May. (askanews) – “In the investigation of accidents there are many things to check. However, in the specific case of formation flight of obsolete helicopters, in bad weather, in the mountains etc… one can afford to lean towards a series of factors which certainly played an important role, namely the lack of recent navigation equipment, anti-collision systems, terrain proximity warning systems, the pilots’ flight hours, the pilots’ recent flight hours We cannot, with absolute certainty, rule out other leads because we are only on the first page of the checklist, however, there are obvious factors that suggest what happened when we don’t see each other, crawling into an Alpine gorge where, moreover, there are updrafts, lifts, in formation, it means risking an accident. It is a very well-known type, it is called Controlled Flight into Terrain, that is, controlled flight against the ground, so the pilot is piloting, still has the car under control and is driving it. obviously unconsciously, against the obstacle.” Speaking, commenting on the helicopter crash that led to the death of the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, is Gregory Alegi, journalist, aviation historian and professor of US History and Politics at LUISS University. “There is no evidence of any kind that could realistically lead to the plot which would have considerable organizational difficulties: from knowing the route, to approaching the vehicle, to placing the bomb on it”, he added. “The first news of the accident launched by international agencies were accompanied by photos of Russian-built Mil Mi-17 helicopters – the journalist specified – then, as the day and the news progressed, we moved on to the Bell 412 and the Bell 212, the latter two are derived from the same historical family that is almost 70 years old, the Bell model 204, the first American helicopter produced in large series with a turbine engine. Let’s remember that the Italian Navy still uses the 212 and the 412 they were used extensively by the Carabinieri and the State Forestry Corps so they are machines that we know very well in Italy.” “I will say more; the Iranian ones were built in Italy because Iran was an excellent customer of the Italian helicopter industry; once the Shah fell, the ayatollahs were established, there was an embargo on technical supplies, in particular those with military and, therefore, it has become very difficult for Iran to receive spare parts, technical documentation and updates. Are there ways to get around this? Of course there are; one is the so-called Reverse Engineering that is to take the existing part, study it and redesign it and make a copy. This can be done with the medium-simple parts, however, with the more advanced parts, it still requires capabilities that Iran has not always shown itself to have The Iranian government is all in extremely precarious conditions of efficiency. This probably also applies to transport helicopters, including presidential ones.” “I would like to add something important – concluded Alegi – if I am not able to produce flight hours to fly the helicopters, given that I have to use some of the activity to take VIPs around, I will cut the training hours. This means that the pilots are less trained, a little more rusty and probably in slightly more complicated situations they are less ready to react.”
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