Articles and social media posts that asked more detailed questions were deleted by censors. One video showed the plane nose-diving into the ground. Three days after the China Eastern Airlines flight fell from the sky, there are more questions than answers. [43], China Eastern established a hotline for family members[67] and announced that its Boeing 737-800 fleet would be grounded for inspection until the investigation was completed. However, neither China's authorities nor Boeing released any technical recommendations since the event. [12][13][14], Residents of the villages surrounding the crash site heard a loud explosion[15] and the final descent and crash was filmed by a security camera at the premises of a local mining company. Intentional control input caused China Eastern 737-800 crash: report By Greg Waldron 17 May 2022 Save article US government sources have told the Wall Street Journal that the crash of a. [69] Nearly 89 percent of all China Eastern flights were cancelled on 22 March. China Eastern flight 5735 crashed outside the city of Wuzhou, leaving no survivors Authorities say there is no clear assessment of what caused the crash at this stage The crash site is only accessible on foot or by motorbike File image. The plane was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members from the city of Kunming in Chinas southwest to Guangzhou, an export hub in the southeast. China waited one year after the FAA cleared the Max before issuing its own order lifting the grounding, in December 2021. The sources indicate that data from the crashed aircrafts flight data recorder shows that control inputs pushed the aircraft (B-1791/MSN41474) into a dive, resulting in the death of 123 passengers and nine crew when flight MU5735 crashed near Wuzhou in Guangxi province in central China on 21 March. Pieces of the crashed plane's wreckage found at the crash site in Tengxian County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang. By Jon Hemmerdinger2022-04-25T20:23:00+01:00. But just over an hour into its journey, China Eastern Flight MU5735 pitched over into a sudden near-vertical dive. Spanish air navigation service Enaire has started implementing an air traffic optimisation project at Madrid Barajas airport, including independent approaches to its parallel runways. The incident occurred near Wuzhou in Teng County, Southern China, at about 2:20 pm, less than an hour before flight MU5735 was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou. If you continue on this website you must agree to our Website Terms and our Privacy Policy All Rights Reserved One device, the flight data recorder, captures information about the planes airspeed, altitude, direction up or down, pilot actions, and performance of all key systems. Rescue personnel at the crash site of flightMU5735. [58], Early reports of the aircraft's flight data recorder pointed towards a deliberate crash from the cockpit. Suddenly, about 1h after taking off, it dived steeply, at one point descending at more than 30,000ft per minute, according to publicly available ADS-B data from aircraft tracking site Flightradar24.com. Aviation safety experts increasingly see only a few plausible reasons why a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plunged into the ground on 21 March, killing all 132 people aboard. China's last major airline crash was in 2010, when an Embraer ERJ-190LR operated by Henan Airlines crashed while trying to land on a foggy runway, catching fire and killing 44 of the 96 people. Watch the video above for more on the aftermath of the crash [71], Within two hours of the crash 20 people claimed to have "survived" by not boarding the flight. 0. The cockpit voice recorder captures sounds including conversations and background engine noise during the flight. Chinese officials leading the crash investigation have not flagged any apparent mechanical or flight problems with the plane. The Boeing 737-800 passenger jet was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou on March 21 when it plunged into a mountainous area in Guangxi, China. No foreigners are believed to have been on board. On 21 March 2022, the Boeing 737-89P aircraft operating the service descended steeply mid-flight and struck the ground at high speed in Teng County, Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, killing all 123 passengers and 9 crew members. Sign in to continue reading, The Wall Street Journal said flight recorder data showed human input behind the nosedive and resultant crash, By Plane & Pilot Updated May 18, 2022 Save Article. 167 Recovery workers paused for a moment of silence on March 27 for victims of the. The plane that crashed on Monday was a Boeing 737-800, not the Boeing 737 Max, a newer model that was temporarily grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. [26] Liu Ning, secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Guangxi, visited the crash site and ordered an "all-out" search and rescue operation. Nobody can come up with a mechanical failure mode that would make the airplane behave the way it did, Goglia adds. [23] It is not equipped with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) used on the newer 737 MAX that led to two fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019 and the subsequent grounding of the fleet. Continental Details Engines Woes, and Its Not Just Cirrus Planes. Black box data has been recovered and Chinese authorities are investigating. The China Eastern Airlines plane crash that killed 132 people is believed to have been caused by an intentional act, according to U.S. officials who spoke to ABC News. We provide news, data, analytics and advisory services to connect the aviation community globally and help organisations shape their business strategies, identify new opportunities and make better decisions faster. In 2019, the US Federal Aviation Administration ordered inspections of 38 Boeing 737 NG planes, including 737-800s, because of cracks found in a part that connects the wings to the fuselage. Flight data indicates a China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed in March was intentionally put into a nose-dive, according to US media reports. A sudden human input to the plane's controls appears to have caused a China Eastern flight to plunge nearly vertically into the mountains of Southern China in March, killing all 132 passengers . The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), NTSB and Boeing are assisting with Chinas investigation. The jet was a Boeing 737-800, a model long viewed as a reliable workhorse in the industry. [64][65], Chinese premier Li Keqiang called for comprehensive efforts to search for survivors and treat the injured, emphasizing the need to reassure and serve the families of the victims. The 737-800, part of the 737NG family, is among the most common airliners in operation, with Boeing having delivered more than 5,100 of the variant since 1998, according to the airframers data. The airline also insisted a possible cockpit intrusion wasnt plausible, citing information from a March 25 news conference during which Chinese authorities said no emergency alert had been sent beforehand, according to the report. The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit, one individual told the Journal. In addition, 737NGs are not equipped with the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System the troubled flight-control system implicated in two crashes of the newer 737 Max. At the time, it was too early to draw any conclusions, as the investigations had just begun and the flight data recorders had not yet been recovered. The US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what it calls another close call involving two aircraft coming way too close, this time at BostonLogonInternational airport. Even the size of the debris field is important - when wreckage is spread over a very large area, it could indicate the plane was breaking up before hitting the ground. [1][2][3][4] It is the third deadliest air crash in China after China Southern Airlines Flight 3943 and China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303, the deadliest air accident in China Eastern Airlines' history, and the deadliest plane crash in 2022. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 was completing a domestic flight when the crash happened . China Eastern Airbus A320. The Chinese passenger plane crashed in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on March 21, killing all 132 people on board including the nine crew members. Beijing A China Eastern passenger jet carrying 132 people crashed in southern China on Monday, aviation authorities said. That kind of vertical dive, without a radio call of any kind from the flightcrew, could clearly indicate a human activity to make that happen, says aviation safety consultant and former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member John Goglia. Commentary: Chinese Spy Balloon Hysteria or Not? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. The unnamed source behind the Wall Street Journals report is presumably someone close to that data recovery effort. Aviation safety expert John Cox, who works at consultancy Safety Operating Systems, says it is entirely possible that it is a deliberate act I would not take it off the table. The US is cautious against acting in any way that might push China closer to Russia or encourage Chinese support for Moscows invasion of Ukraine, say observers. Goglia says the China Eastern accident appears amazingly similar to the EgyptAir and SilkAir crashes. Also recovered, 10kms away from the crash site, is a piece of wreckage indicating mid-air break up, which could possibly support the theory of a rear bulkhead failure. "The NTSB has assisted the Civil Aviation Administration of China with their investigation of the China Eastern 737 crash," the agency said in a statement. Indonesian investigators said they found insufficient evidence to determine the cause. On Boeing ( NYSE: BA ): The China Eastern Airlines Corp. Boeing 737-800 NG crashed in the southern region of Guangxi on March 21 while making a flight from Kunming to Guangzhou. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft. State media and Chinese regulators gave no indication the pilot reported trouble or other information that might shed light on the cause of the disaster. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has not yet determined the ultimate cause of the crash, and China Eastern has previously said the pilot flying the plane was in good physical, emotional, and financial health. [29][30] It was sent to Beijing for data extraction. The crash of a Tara Air turboprop has become the third fatal incident involving the carrier since 2010. In mid April, China Eastern returned some 737-800s to. The jet was a Boeing 737-800, a model long viewed as a reliable workhorse in the industry. The NTSB also attributed the rapid descent and crash of 737-300 operated by Singaporean carrier SilkAir in December 1997 to intentional pilot action specifically, sustained manual nose-down flight-control inputs, according to a letter from the investigation agency. The China Eastern jet crash that killed 132 people when the craft slammed into a mountainside appears to have been an intentional act, according to a report Tuesday. The officials who spoke to ABC News point to the plane's flaps not being engaged and landing gear not put down. [38] The remains of all 132 aircraft occupants were positively identified by 29 March. Enaire says the scheme known FlightGlobal is the global aviation communitys primary source of news, data, insight, knowledge and expertise. Since then, the airline's safety record has drastically. Both the NTSB and Boeing also declined to comment, deferring to the CAAC. That's about all that is known for certain about the unusual. [21][22], The 737-800 has a solid safety record, with 11 previous fatal accidents (the first in September 2006) out of more than 7,000 planes delivered since 1997. The aircraft was operating a service on the Kunming-Guangzhou route before suddenly plunging from 29,000ft. "The NTSB doesn't comment on investigations led by other authorities. The crash of a Boeing 737-800 passenger jet in Chinas southwest started a fire big enough to be seen from space and forced rescuers to search a rugged, remote mountainside. It ignited a fire big enough to be seen on NASA satellite images before firefighters could extinguish it. A sudden human input to the planes controls appears to have caused a China Eastern flight to plunge nearly vertically into the mountains of Southern China in March, killing all 132 passengers onboard, according to preliminary findings from US authorities investigating the crash. Flight data from the doomed . 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