Iran Air Flight 742 was a Boeing 727 passenger jet on a scheduled service from Moscow, Russia, to Tehran, Iran, which on 18 October 2011 made an emergency landing at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, after the nose landing gear failed to deploy. All 113 occupants on board survived without incident.[1][2][3]
Following an unsuccessful attempt at troubleshooting, the crew, led by captain Hushang Shahbazi, decided to divert to Mehrabad where a low approach confirmed the nose gear was not extended. The crew subsequently landed the aircraft without the nose gear on runway 29L at about 16:00 local time and came to a stand still on both main gear and the nose of the aircraft.[5] The aircraft was evacuated. No injuries occurred.
Aftermath
Although initially subjected to a ban from flying while the incident was investigated,[1] Captain Shahbazi was acclaimed as a national hero, and received more than 11,000 emails from people in Iran and overseas.[6] He was subsequently forced into early retirement due to his alleged portrayal of Iranian airlines as being unsafe as well as his public opposition to US sanctions, which restricted the sale of spare aircraft parts to Iran.[2]
The aircraft was repaired and returned to service with Iran Air. In 2013 it was placed into storage.[7]
