Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
I will be the only one speaking for the TSB during the opening remarks.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to appear today to explain the role of the TSB in Iran's safety investigation into the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752.
Since the morning of this tragic event that killed so many Canadians and others with ties to Canada, we have been fully engaged in doing as much as possible to find out what happened, why it happened, and what needs to change to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
In the case of international safety investigations, the ICAO's annex 13 prescribes the roles of participating countries, including which state has the right to lead the investigation, and which other states may participate and to what extent. It should be noted that a safety investigation is not intended to attribute blame or determine civil or criminal liability.
From the beginning, Iran offered the TSB more access to its investigation activities than we were technically entitled to, albeit less than what we asked for. For example, two TSB investigators, one of whom is with us here today, spent six days in Tehran following the crash.
In July of last year, our expert and a Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) flight recorder specialist attended the readout of the aircraft's flight recorders in Paris.
Also, in early February of this year, Ukraine invited us to provide technical assistance, giving us access to the draft investigation report for review and comments.
Throughout this process, we have specifically and repeatedly asked Iran's Aircraft Accident Investigation Board to answer three important questions.
First, what was the sequence of events, including the technical, human and organizational factors, that led to the missiles being fired that brought down PS752?
Second, why was Iran's airspace kept open during a period of heightened military alert?
Finally, why did civilian airlines continue to operate in Iran's airspace in the hours following the launch of missiles into Iraq?
Last March we shared our independent perspective publicly on how these three questions were addressed in the final report.
Iran concluded that PS752 was shot down because an air defence unit mistook the Boeing 737 as a threat, and claimed that this misidentification occurred because of a misalignment of the missile launcher's radar. However, Iran has provided no evidence to date to support this scenario.
As to why the airspace remained open, Iran generally explained the risk assessment process and limited mitigations that its civilian authorities took in coordination with the military following their launch of missiles into Iraq. However, Iran did not completely close its airspace to civilian aircraft.
Finally, Iran did not publish any notices, as recommended by ICAO, to warn aircraft operators of the hazards associated with Iran's state of heightened military alert until after PS752 was shot down.
Ukraine International Airlines was not the only airline to continue operating after Iran launched missiles against Iraq. Eight other aircraft departed Tehran before the shoot-down of PS752.
We consider that Iran's final investigation report raises more questions than it answers. The report does not explain any of the underlying factors behind why the missiles were launched at PS752, the stated cause of this tragedy.
In short, the report says what happened, but doesn't address the why.
We know this has been very difficult for the families, and in the end, no safety investigation report can ever bring back those who were lost.
Much concern has been expressed about the international protocols that govern these very unique types of safety investigations involving military activities, and specifically the issue of the state of occurrence investigating itself.
Now that Iran's safety investigation has concluded, the TSB has begun acting on its commitment to advocate for a review of the provisions of ICAO annex 13, so that families and the public can have confidence in the findings and recommendations from these very unique investigations.
Last month we submitted a working paper to the ICAO accident investigation group panel, calling for the examination of conflict of interest situations following an event where the state is directly involved in the downing of a civilian aircraft, and for the consideration of how the ICAO standards, recommended practices or guidance may be improved to reinforce the independence of future investigations and improve their integrity, transparency and credibility.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We'd be pleased to take your questions.