A 747 cargo jet suffered damage after it tipped backwards while parked on the tarmac when airport workers mistakenly unloaded the aircraft from its nose.
The jet – belonging to Iranian cargo airline Fars Air Qeshm – became unbalanced during unloading at Doha airport in Qatar, tipping onto its tail.
The Boeing 747-281, which had arrived from Yerevan, Armenia, is the airline’s only aircraft.
Incidents of aircraft tipping backwards are uncommon, but happen more frequently with cargo jets.
Some airlines use tail stands when the aircraft are parked to prevent them tipping back.
In 2016 a Ukraine International airlines Boeing 737-900 tilted onto its tail after cargo was removed from the front of the aircraft.
The same 747 damaged in Doha was reportedly hit by an Israeli airstrike last year while it was parked at an airbase in the Syrian port city of Latakia.
Taking the damaged aircraft out of service while it is repaired will leave the beleaguered Iranian airline without a single airworthy jet.
