U. S. investigators USA An onboard user intentionally crashed a China Eastern flight in March, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, in what was China’s deadliest air crisis in decades.
China Eastern Flight MU5375 traveling from Kunming to Guangzhou on March 21 inexplicably fell from an altitude of 29,000 feet on a mountain, killing the other 132 people on board.
The so-called black box flight knowledge recorders recovered from were sent to the United States for analysis.
This knowledge shows that, perhaps a pilot or someone who forcibly entered the cockpit, gave the order to send the Boeing 737-800 into a tailspin, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited others familiar with the investigation.
“The aircraft did what it said it did through someone in the cockpit,” the Journal said, mentioning “a user who knows the initial assessment of U. S. officials. “
A source told Reuters that investigators were investigating whether the crash was caused by a “voluntary” action involving the crew, which does not necessarily mean the dive was intentional.
U. S. officials back their conclusion by the fact that Chinese investigators have so far not reported any problems with the aircraft or flight controls that may have caused the crash and it is expected to be resolved on long-haul flights, the newspaper said.
The U. S. National Transportation Safety BoardThe U. S. and Boeing declined to comment on the investigation to AFP on Tuesday.
According to a Boeing report, investigators discovered “nothing abnormal,” the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in April.
In a statement, the CAAC said the workers’ corps met protection requirements before takeoff, that the aircraft was not carrying harmful products and that it did not appear to have coped with inclement weather. The firm said a full investigation could take years.
Immediately after the accident, the ruling Chinese Communist Party acted temporarily to report, speeding up its censorship device as the media and local citizens rushed to the crash site.
He maintained his control over the narrative, and the initial investigation left key questions unanswered.
Screenshots of the Wall Street Journal story appear to have been censored on China’s main social media platform and messaging app on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
After the fatal raid near the southern city of Wuzhou, the government temporarily cordoned off a vast domain and China’s regulator announced it had erased gigantic amounts of “illegal information” about the fall of China’s tightly controlled network.
A hashtag on social media with the plane’s flight number appears to have been censored.
The crash was China’s deadliest in about 30 years and shook the country’s enviable flight protection record in a different way.
Deliberate aircraft accidents are very rare. In 2015, a Germanwings co-pilot deliberately flew a commercial airliner against a French mountain, killing the other 150 people on board.