What happened
On May 17, 1987, an Airbus A300 operating as flight IR655 departed from Bandar Abbas (BND) following a stopover from Tehran. The aircraft was cleared to proceed to Dubai via airways A59 and A59W at a flight level of 140. After taking off from runway 21 at 10:17, the crew began their climb, reporting they were ascending through 3500 feet toward their assigned altitude.
At approximately 10:24:00 UTC, the aircraft passed the MOBET waypoint while descending through FL120. Shortly thereafter, at 10:24:43, the aircraft was struck by two surface-to-air missiles fired from the US Navy cruiser USS Vincennes. The impact of the explosions caused the tail section and one wing to separate from the fuselage. This structural failure led to a total loss of control, and the aircraft crashed into the sea.
Findings
Investigations revealed that the crew of the USS Vincennes misidentified the civilian airliner as a hostile F-14 fighter. Radar operators on the cruiser observed what they believed to be an incoming aircraft descending at high speed, though the Airbus A300 was actually in a climbing phase.
Prior to the launch, the US Navy vessel issued several challenges on both the Military Air Distress (MAD) frequency and the International Air Defence (IAD) radio frequency. However, because the flight crew was only monitoring the IAD frequency, they did not respond to the MAD transmissions. The decision to fire the missiles was driven by the mistaken identification of the airliner as an aggressive military target during a period of heightened regional tension.