Why the heck did that plane have clearance to leave? What pilot in their right mind would take that risk?
“Why the heck did that plane have clearance to leave? What pilot in their right mind would take that risk?”
The authorities controlling the airport would have no knowledge of military actions. Likewise, the pilot probably had no idea what was happening. The Ayatollah ordered a military strike. Had he also ordered the military to foresee unforeseen consequences, likely the military still would not have foreseen that they needed to stop all flights so their own anti-aircraft people wouldn’t shoot down a civilian plane. If everyone in the Iranian military was fully trained to a high standard and followed all the procedures, then, likely the shoot down wouldn’t have happened. It is probable that the officers running things think of their military as first rate. Not as a bunch of jittery under-educated ninth century draftees.