Flight instructor, aviation student killed when their plane crashes near Tehran

A flight instructor and an aviation student were killed when their training plane crashed on the outskirts of the Iranian capital Tehran on Monday, state media reported.

The Tecnam plane crashed in Karaj, the capital of northwestern Alborz province, 48 kilometers (30 miles) west of Tehran.

The slain instructor has been identified as Navid Arabi Moghadam, and the student as Amirhossein Mahmoudi.

The incident occurred around 5:45 a.m. local time (0215GMT) at Payam International Airport, which serves as a cargo airport and technical training center.

The airport authorities said an investigation into the incident has been ordered, though preliminary reports attributed it to a technical glitch.

Iran has seen many plane crashes in recent years, including military jets, due to an aging fleet.

In June last year, an F-14 fighter jet crashed near the central city of Isfahan, however, the two pilots on board received injuries.

The public relations department at Shahid Babaei Airbase in Isfahan blamed the crash of the aging Grumman F-14 Tomcat on "technical failure."

Weeks before that incident, two young pilots were when their F-7 fighter jet took off from Shahid Babaei Airbase and crashed 200 meters away while on a training mission.

In February of last year, an Iranian army F-5 fighter jet crashed in the northern city of Tabriz, killing two pilots and a civilian.