China Eastern Airline Crash of Boeing 737-800

On 21 march 2022 china eastern airline flight was en route from Kunming to Guangzhou. Suddenly, on its way the Boeing 737-800 nosedive from its cruising altitude of 29,000 feet. Crashed into the terrain of Molang village Teng county, Wuzhou, Guangxi mountainside, killing all the 132 people of which 9 were the crew members. The civil aviation administration of china (CAAC) declare an emergency mechanism and sent the working team to the scene.

Aircraft and Flight Information

Aircraft type	Boeing 737-800
Operator	China Eastern Yunnan Airlines
IATA flight No.	MU5735
ICAO flight No.	CES5735
Call sign	CHINA EASTERN 5735
Registration	B-1791
Flight Origin	Kunming Changshui International Airport
Destination	Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
Occupants	132
Passengers	123
Crew	9
Fatalities	132
Survivors	0

Preliminary Findings on China Eastern Airline Plane Crash

According to the Convection of ICAO, preliminary investigation findings should be submitted within 30 days of an accident occurring to the International civil aviation organizations and investigation participant countries. These types of reports usually contain factual information without proper analysis or conclusion of the case.

The report says that china eastern airlines Boeing 737-800, flight MU5735 that was departed from Kunming airport, the capital of southwest china Yunnan province for the Guangzhou airport on March 21. The Flight entered the Guangzhou control area at 2.17 pm. After that, the area control radar warned of a deviation at 2:20:55 pm and the aircraft leave its cruising altitude of 8,900 meters (29,000 feet). The control tower called the crew immediately but no answer was received. At 2:21:40 pm the last thing recorded by the radar was standard pressure altitude at 3,380 meters (11,000 feet) and the ground speed was 1,010 kph.

The heading of the aircraft was 117 degrees and then subsequently, the radar signal disappeared. The plan finally then crash into the mountainside near Molang Village under Langnan Township of Tengxian County in the city of Wuzhou, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. All the 132 passengers including the crew member were dead.

Aircraft Wreckage

The plane’s major pieces including the left and right engine, vertical stabilizer, landing gears, and wings were recovered. The plan two black boxes were also been extracted but they were in worse condition. The data recovery and analysis from the block box are still underway. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) that was found on 23 march in very bad condition was sent to Beijing for data extraction. The flight data recorder was found on 27 march and had a few dents on it, later both flight recorders were sent to the US capital Washington DC for analyzing the data for investigation.

From the maintenance perspective, the report reveals that both the crew and the aircraft met the Airworthiness standards and they have a valid airworthiness certificate. Moreover, there were no dangerous goods on the board that would cause this accident. And also the weather forecast report any hazardous weather condition.

The radio communication also shows no abnormality between crew members and the control tower before the aircraft deviates from its cruising altitude.

Is the Accident Performed Deliberately?

Early reports that are taken out from the flight recorder give that someone deliberately put the plane in vertical dive from the cockpit. This information then leads to the investigation of the person sitting in the cockpit or someone breaching into the cockpit. The breaching of someone into the cockpit is unlikeliness as the emergency code was not broadcast as declared by china eastern.

The flight data recorder that is recovered from the cash was taken to the United States for analysis. The United state investigators believe that some in the cockpit deliberately nosedive the plan. This story was first published in the Wall Street Journal. That someone expert on the US transportation safety board make this statement that the plan does what it was told to do so in the cockpit.

The news report published by ABC News described that the plane was deliberately put in the vertical dive position and also there was no data in the flight recorder that indicate deployment of landing gear and flaps during the aircraft’s descent. Moreover, the pilot also had not made any mayday or emergency calls to the control tower nor the answers to any of the calls from the air traffic controller.

The civil aviation administration of china said responded to this deliberate crash story that this kind of speculation has badly misled the public. And also put hurdles and interference in the investigation of accidents. Boeing and the US national transportation safety board both haven’t passed any comment on the investigation to AFP and referred all the questions to Chinese regulators.

Was China Eastern Airline Crash a Catastrophic Failure?

The video footage that shows the last movement of china’s eastern aircraft vertical dive shows that something from the empennage section was fallen apart. The expert also suggests that it can be the stabilizer problem that results in crashes. Later on 24 March, Chinese authorities discovered a piece of jet around 10 km (6 miles) from the crash site. They confirm that the midair breakup was winglet. That won’t affect the airworthiness of the aircraft and which is such a lightweight that it can be broken during the descent.

Crew Details of China Eastern Airline Flight MU5735

The total number of crew was 9. Of which 3 were pilots and 5 were flight attendants and in-flight security guards.

Designation	Name	Experiences	Flight hours
Captain	Yang Hongda	Boeing 737 pilot since January 2018	6,709 flight hours
First officer	Zhang Zhengping	Trained <100 captains, earned the title of “Meritorious Pilot” in 2011	31,769 flight hours
Second officer	Ni Gongtao (as observer)	Trainee pilot	556 flight hours

China Eastern Airline Boeing 737-800 Details

The aircraft type was Boeing 737-89P with the call sign CHINA EASTERN 5735. The Boeing 737-800 was first launched on 5 September 1994 f this aircraft with the serial number and registration number 41474 – B-1791. This plane was first flown on 5 June 2015 and then delivered to Eastern Yunnan airline. The aircraft had two turbofan engines CFM56-7B26E.

The Boeing 737-800 is considered on the list one of the safest planes due to its solid safety record with only 11 fatal accidents out of 7,000 delivered planes since 1997. The total seat capacity in B737-800 is 189 passengers and that would decrease to 162 passengers when they use a two-class layout.