Iranian Pilots Reportedly Refused to Eject From Doomed Fighter Jet to Avoid Hitting Homes, School

Two Iranian military pilots and a civilian were killed on Monday morning after an Air Force F-5 trainer crashed in an urban area of Tabriz, northwestern Iran. The crash was blamed on a technical malfunction.

Sadegh Falahi and Alireza Hanifehzad, the two Iranian pilots involved in Monday’s crash of a military jet could have used the aircraft’s ejection system to save themselves, but refused to do so in an attempt to prevent their plane from coming down in a residential area, Gen. Reza Yousefi, commander of the Tabriz air base, has said.

“These two pilots laid down their lives so the plane wouldn’t hit residential areas. They could have used the ejection system, but refused to do so, and managed to veer it toward a non-residential area,” Yousefi said, speaking to local media Monday.

Remnants of the IRIAF F-5F fighter jet, that crashed today in Iranian Tabriz due tech malfunction. RIP to the two pilots who sacrificed their lives trying to pull the plane to where there are fewer people. Unfortunately, one civilian died anyway. pic.twitter.com/XY8m956nCx

— Yuri Lyamin (@imp_navigator) February 21, 2022

The commander indicated that the aircraft suffered a technical malfunction while in flight and that the pilots “could not reach the runway.”

The pilots were killed after their F-5 crashed into the Shahid Alipour Sports Hall on Monajjem Boulevard in western Tabriz city at about 8 am local time. A civilian in a passing vehicle was also killed. Fire brigades were deployed to the area to extinguish a massive fire.

اولین فیلم از محل سقوط جنگنده ارتش در تبریز pic.twitter.com/ydwctKR50x

— Hossein Dalirian (@HosseinDalirian) February 21, 2022

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

📹 | Fighter jet crash in #Iran's Tabriz kills two pilots and another person on the street.pic.twitter.com/YHzdmfsNWP

— EHA News (@eha_news) February 21, 2022

Iran’s ageing fleet of Northrop F-5 supersonic light fighter aircraft was purchased in the 1970s, before the Iranian Revolution of 1979, after which time weapons and parts deliveries were cut off and Iran was slapped with an arms embargo by Washington. The aircraft were widely used throughout the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, with Iran purchasing spares abroad, and then beginning to substitute them with domestically-produced replacement parts. The Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company began making new aircraft derived from the F-5 in the mid-1990s, with the latest iteration, the Kowsar, unveiled in 2018.