Iran controls data from Ukraine plane crash

Canada wants to change law giving country authority to lead probe

OTTAWA— Iran has the final say over who gets to analyze the flight data recorders from the Ukrainian passenger jet that its own Revolutionary Guard shot down in January, says the head of Canada’s Transportation Safety Board.

Kathy Fox, the chair of the TSB, said in an interview Monday that Canada wants to change the section of international aviation law that gives Iran the authority to lead the investigation and control what information is released publicly.

But she said that is a complicated process that won’t happen any time soon.

Fox confirmed the long-awaited downloading of crucial flight data and cockpit voice recordings from the Jan. 8 crash was completed successfully in Paris on Monday.

The safety board sent a team to Paris to witness the downloading of the data.

“It’s not clear to us whether some of that work is going to be done in France or whether Iran is simply going to take the data and go back and do it in their country,” Fox said in an interview Monday.

There were 176 people who died when Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran, including 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents and dozens of others with connections to Canada.

Iran initially denied responsibility for the crash, but was forced to acknowledge the shootdown after video footage on social media appeared to show at least one missile striking the jet. The tragedy unfolded after Iran launched missiles into Iraq at two American military bases in retaliation for the U.S. having killed a top Iranian general.

Iran’s delegate to the International Civil Aviation Organization told the UN agency on

March 11 that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders would be sent to Ukraine’s aviation investigators by March 25, but later blamed the ongoing COVID -19 pandemic for the lengthy delay.

Fox also made clear that she was able to say what she did publicly because Iran gave the necessary permission required under international aviation law to do so.

Under Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the “State of Occurrence” — in this case, Iran — becomes the lead investigator for the crash because it happened in Iran.

But Iran could ask for help from another country or designate another country to lead the investigation, as was the case when Ukraine turned to the Netherlands to lead the probe into the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 by pro-Moscow Ukrainian rebels over eastern Ukraine six years ago.

“ICAO permits countries to delegate. For whatever reason, Iran has chosen to lead it. They have the right to do that,” said Fox.

“This begs the question about whether Annex13 is suitable for these types of circumstances, and we’ve certainly told the families we think it needs to be looked at and revised to take into consideration these very unique types of events.”