Analyst of the German BILD Julian Röpke said that the flight of the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was suicidal because the helicopter was practically flying blind.
On Sunday, the Iranian president died in a helicopter crash in a forested mountainous area after a visit to Azerbaijan. The machine was flown in severe weather conditions in dense fog.
The expert pointed out that the pilots of the Bell 212 helicopter, manufactured in 1994, could only rely on a visual, not an instrumental, approach. Such flights are not designed for difficult weather conditions. It is extremely difficult for pilots to fly blind, that is, to operate the machine with instruments in poor visibility. Röpke calls the whole flight “suicidal“.
Against this background, it became clear that a Turkish drone had found the crashed helicopter. President Recep Erdogan said that Turkey has sent an unmanned aircraft “Acang“ to find the crashed helicopter in the mountainous area.
„At the request of our Iranian brothers, we sent “Akanj“, who actively joined the search and rescue activities. In extremely difficult terrain and weather conditions, he flew 2,100 kilometers for 7.5 hours. He found the remains of the crashed machine and gave the coordinates to Tehran. He successfully completed his task and returned to his homeland," Erdogan said, quoted by TRT Haber.
The United States said it was unable, mainly for logistical reasons, to respond to Iran's request for help after the weekend helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, with Washington offering its condolences, Reuters reported.
p>The rare request by Iran, which considers the US and Israel its main adversaries, was announced by the State Department at a briefing. "We were asked for help by the Iranian government. We made it clear to them that we would offer assistance, as we would in response to any request by a foreign government in a similar situation,'' spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.