The China Eastern Airlines jet's black box shows horrifying crash details and points to the possibility that the flight deck crew deliberately put the plane into a nosedive.
Investigators looking into the incident are trying to determine what led to the tragic crash but have not yet found any evidence of technical malfunction. Earlier Tuesday, flight data from one of the Boeing 737-800's black boxes suggested that someone from the cockpit intentionally crashed the airplane.
Intentional Plane Crash?
Boeing Co., the company that manufactured the jet, along with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), declined to comment regarding the incident and referred questions to Chinese regulators. The aircraft was en route from Kunming to Guangzhou and crashed mid-flight on Mar. 21 in the mountains of Guangxi.
The incident was triggered by a sudden nosedive from cruising altitude, killing all 123 passengers and nine crew members aboard the plane. The crash marks mainland China's deadliest aviation-related disaster in the last 28 years, as per Reuters.
The plane pilots were not responding to repeated calls from air traffic controllers and nearby planes when it was making a rapid descent. On Apr. 11, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said that in response to rumors on the internet of a deliberate crash, the speculation had "gravely misled the public."
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Chinese officials said that the rumors had started to interfere with the accident investigation work. On Tuesday, China Eastern was not immediately available for comments regarding the new developments in the investigation.
According to the New York Post, the revelation has led U.S. officials who were involved in the investigation to shift their focus to the pilot's actions. However, it was entirely possible that someone else on the plane stormed into the cockpit and caused the crash, sources familiar with the matter said.
Horrifying Aviation Tragedy
However, the situation comes as American investigators did not have access to all available information compared to their Chinese counterparts. The airlines said that the health and financial status of the pilots were in good shape at the time of the crash.
Furthermore, officials pointed to a preliminary report from the Chinese government that said efforts to restore data and analyze the plane's damaged black boxes were ongoing. In a statement, China Eastern said that any unofficial speculation could affect the real progress of the global air transport industry.
The airline also insisted that it was not possible that cockpit intrusion was a factor in the incident, citing information from a Mar. 25 news conference during which Chinese authorities said no emergency alert had been sent beforehand.
Investigators were also looking into one of the crashed airplane pilot's personal life and background. They believe he could have been struggling through certain issues just before the horrifying tragedy.
In a statement, the NTSB said that it will not be issuing any further updates on the CAAC's investigation of the China Eastern 5735 crash. Authorities said that when and whether the aviation agency divulges information was entirely up to them, Yahoo News reported.
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