Houshang Shahbazi says he is 56 years old, nine years away from the mandatory retirement age for pilots of 65.
Shahbazi has made a name for himself this past year by loudly criticizing the United States for refusing to allow American firms to sell spare parts for Iranian commercial planes. He accuses the Americans of endangering passengers and crew in Iran by its policies.
Shahbazi said last week that Iran Air had told him not to wear his uniform while campaigning against the US sanctions. After he did so at a foreign conference in March where he spoke against sanctions, he said Iran Air put him on the retirement rolls against his wishes.
News reports also quoted him as saying that Iran Air complained he was portraying flights by Iranian airlines as unsafe.
He made the announcement about his forced retirement near the first anniversary of his remarkable landing. He was bringing a Boeing 727 into Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, but was unable to get the noise wheel to deploy. After flying in circles trying to get the nose wheel to come down, he was running low on fuel and had to bring the plane in. Somehow he kept the aircraft’s nose high as the plane landed and slowed on the runway. The nose did not come down and crunch onto the runway until the plane was at a very slow speed. No one was injured in the landing.
The incident happened shortly after an American pilot landed his plane in New York’s East River when birds ingested into the engines stopped both from running just after takeoff. Shahbazi was feted by the public just like the American pilot.
He soon began his campaign against the US sanctions, a campaign that was fully in line with what the government of the Islamic Republic has been saying for decades.
Shahbazi did not say why Iran Air did not want him to wear his uniform and the airline has made no statement since he spoke out last week.
But Shahbazi was bitter about the treatment he has gotten from the government, not just Iran Air. He said he had received only 10 gold coins from the state, worth about $2,500, as a reward for his achievement in landing the plane. “They complain that the elite are leaving the country,” he said. “It’s obvious. When they don’t get proper treatment, they have no choice but to leave the country.”
He also complained last year that the authorities had never even called him to express gratitude for his successful landing.
But Shahbazi said he planned to remain in Iran despite receiving several job offers from abroad.
There has been considerable anger among Iranians at the United States over the aircraft parts sanction, which has been in effect since 1979. It is probably one of the most effective regime criticisms of the United States.
It is also very clear that Iranian airlines are getting all the spare parts they need despite the embargo or they would have had to ground the planes in the early 1980s. The issue isn’t really access to parts, but that Iranian airlines must pay premium prices to buy them through middlemen rather than directly from Boeing.
As for the safety issue, pilots have the authority throughout the world to stop a takeoff if they find anything lacking in the aircraft they are assigned.