Bandar Abbas

After landing on runway 14L at Mashhad Airport, a nose gear tyre burst. The crew lost control of the airplane that veered off runway and came to rest, bursting into flames. 28 passengers were killed while 54 were seriously injured and 66 escaped unhurt. The aircraft was destroyed.

The four engine aircraft departed Tehran-Mehrabad Airport on a flight to Bandar Abbas, carrying 84 passengers and a crew of 10, among them several journalists from local newspapers and the Iranian National TV who were flying to Bandar Abbas to cover important military manoeuvres. Some eight minutes after takeoff, while climbing, the captain informed ATC about technical problems with the engine n°4 and elected to return to Tehran for an emergency landing. After being cleared to return, the crew started the descent when the aircraft stalled and crashed in a residential area located in the district of Yaft Abad, about 2 km south of runway 29L threshold. All 94 occupants were killed as well as 12 people leaving in a 9-floor building that was struck by the airplane. At the time of the accident, the visibility was reduced to 1,500 metres due to haze.

Flight IR451 arrived at Bandar Abbas (BND) from Tehran (THR) at 08:40. The Airbus A300 was to continue to Dubai (DXB) as flight IR655. Prior to departure the crew received an enroute clearance to Dubai via the flight planned route A59 and A59W at FL140. The flight took off from runway 21 at 10:17 hours and climbed straight ahead. Two minutes later, the crew reported leaving 3500 feet for FL140 on Airway A59, estimating MOBET at 06:53 UTC (10:23 Iran time). At 10:24:00 the aircraft passed MOBET out of FL120. At 10:24:43 two Airbus was hit by surface-to-air missiles. The tail and one wing broke off as a result of the explosions. Control was lost and the aircraft crashed into the sea. The missiles were fired by the US Navy cruiser USS Vincennes. It was operating in the area together with the frigates USS Elmer Montgomery and USS John H. Sides. They were to protect other ships in the area. At about the time the Airbus took off, the radar aboard the USS Vincennes picked up a brief IFF mode 2 response, which led to the mistaken identification of the Airbus as a hostile F-14 aircraft. The USS Vincennes issued 7 challenges on the Military Air Distress (MAD) frequency 243 MHz, addressed to 'Iranian aircraft', 'Iranian fighter' or 'Iranian F-14'. These messages were followed by three challenges on the IAD (International Air Defence) radio frequency. Due to increasing tension in the area - on May 17, 1987 an Iraqi Mirage had attacked USS Stark - all aircraft in the area had to monitor 121.5 Mhz: the International Air Defence - IAD radio frequency. There was no response. Meanwhile radar operators were monitoring the Aegis screens. They reported that the incoming plane was descending with an increasing speed. In fact, the Airbus was climbing. Considering itself and USS Montgomery under aggression, USS Vincennes took the ultimate decision to launch missiles against the perceived hostile target at 10:24:22.
It remains uncertain whether the IR655 flight crew (only able to monitor the IAD, not the MAD frequencies) would have been able to rapidly identify their flight as the subject of the challenges made by the USS Vincennes.

On final approach to Bandar Abbas Airport, the airplane was too low for undetermined reason when it struck the ground and came to rest in flames few dozen yards short of runway. Eleven passengers were killed while 17 other occupants were evacuated. The aircraft was destroyed.