IRNA said the F-5 fighter crashed onto the field in a residential area of Tabriz, a city of 1.6 million residents. Gen. Reza Yousefi, commander of the air base in Tabriz, said the crashed jet had been used for training and suffered a technical problem on its final flight. In an effort to avoid crashing into the residential area, the pilots guided the jet to the soccer pitch, he said. A state TV reporter at the crash scene said that because the pitch was not long enough, the plane left the field and hit a school wall. Iran’s air force has an assortment of U.S.-made military aircraft purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
