Black box data recovered from the China Eastern plane that crashed in March suggests that someone in the cockpit intentionally dropped the aircraft, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a preliminary assessment by US officials.
The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it crashed eight kilometers into the mountains, killing all 132 passengers and crew on board. This was China’s deadliest plane crash in decades.
Information extracted from the plane’s damaged flight data recorder shows human entry orders at the controls for the dive, according to Wall Street, citing people familiar with the case.
“The plane did what it was told by someone in the cabin,” the newspaper source said.
The plane’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered from the crash and sent to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington for analysis, according to Chinese state media.
US officials involved in the investigation are focusing on a pilot’s actions, according to Wall Street, adding that it’s also possible that someone else on the plane could have broken into the cockpit and deliberately caused the crash.
Chinese investigators have not revealed any mechanical or technical issues with the aircraft that could have caused the crash, but they may demand further action across the industry – as is typical after situations like this – a fact that US officials believe lends credibility to their claim. assessment, the newspaper reported.
THE CNN contacted the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and China Eastern Airlines for comment on the case.
In a statement to Wall Street, China Eastern said that no evidence had emerged that could determine whether or not there were problems with the aircraft involved in the accident. The airline also pointed out that the health and family conditions of the pilots were good and added that their financial situation was also normalized.
“Any unofficial speculation could interfere with the accident investigation and affect the real progress of the global air transport industry,” the airline told the newspaper.
On Wednesday, China’s state-run newspaper Global Times quoted a statement from the CAAC, which said it had sought out NTSB investigators who refused to “disclose information about the investigation to any media.”
According to the Global Times, the CAAC said the investigation is ongoing in a “scientific and rigorous” manner and promised to release “timely and accurate” updates.
In a summary of the preliminary report released on April 20, the CAAC highlighted that the two black boxes were “severely damaged” and “data restoration and analysis work is still ongoing.”
The report noted that the flight crew and maintenance personnel “meet the relevant standards” and that there were no items on board that had been declared as dangerous goods, and no hazardous weather forecast.
Before the plane left cruising altitude, radio communications between the crew and the air traffic control department were not abnormal, according to the text.
Rumors of a co-pilot intentionally shooting down the plane circulated widely on the internet from China in early April, with some people referring to the CAAC’s remarks about the mental health of aviation officials following the accident.
At a meeting on aviation security on April 6, the organization’s director, Feng Zhenglin, urged Communist Party officials at all levels to “stabilize their staff’s thoughts, make maximum effort to resolve employee problems in their work, life and study, and to ensure their physical integrity and mental health”.
“In particular, the authorities must do their best in the ideological work of the pilots to lay a solid foundation for the frontline to operate safely,” said Feng.
Speculation about the pilot’s suicide causing the accident has already led the CAAC to deny the fact. “These rumors seriously misled the public and interfered with the investigation of the accident,” Wu Shijie, an official with the agency, warned at a news conference on April 11, adding that police were carrying out investigations to hold those who started the rumors to account.
Source: CNN Brasil
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