For more than four years, the final moments of China Eastern Flight 5735 remained shrouded in secrecy, with few clues to a baffling descent from 29,000 feet that left no survivors. Now, new data from the Boeing 737 suggests the crash was no accident. The plane’s fatal dive was a deliberate act initiated from within the cockpit, aviation experts say, following what appears to have been a struggle for control of the aircraft. The plane, which was operated by highly experienced pilots, had been traveling from Kunming, in southwestern China,…
Tag: National Transportation Safety Board
China Eastern Crash Report Doesn’t Explain Why the Jet Plummeted
BEIJING — The pilots had met China’s standards for flying a commercial jet. No problems were found with the aircraft before it took off. No dangerous cargo had been loaded aboard. Communications with the plane appeared normal until its deadly plunge. A preliminary report released on Wednesday by China’s aviation safety regulator failed to dispel much of the mystery about why a China Eastern jet suddenly went into a nosedive in clear weather last month and crashed into a muddy hillside, killing all 132 people aboard. The report mainly cataloged…