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Flight 752 and the question of the recorders
Summary
A look back at the diplomatic pressure on Iran over access to the flight recorders of the downed Ukrainian airliner.
What was at stake for the families and governments of Flight 752 victims as of 9 March 2020? Much turned on the flight recorders of the Ukraine International Airlines plane that was shot down on 8 January 2020.
The Boeing 737-800 was operating a scheduled service from Tehran to Kyiv. Shortly after takeoff it was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and all 176 people on board were killed.
By 4 March 2020, the aircraft's recorders had become a focus of diplomacy. Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne urged Iran to allow access to the flight recorders of the plane, shot down two months earlier.
Why the recorders mattered
Flight recorders hold the data and cockpit audio that investigators rely on to reconstruct a flight's final minutes. Canada's call, made publicly on 4 March, placed the question of who could examine them at the centre of the dispute between Ottawa and Tehran over the downing.
The appeal also showed that, two months after the attack, the aftermath of a flight bound for Kyiv was still being handled through foreign ministries well beyond Ukraine. As of 9 March 2020, the request remained an open demand on Iran.
