China Eastern Airlines has started to put its fleet of Boeing 737-800 jetliners back into service after grounding all of them for weeks following a horrifying crash in which one of the planes plunged vertically into a mountain range, killing all 132 people who were on the plane.
“The airline said it had conducted systematic tests, structural checkups and verified airworthiness data for each of the aircraft, and that test flights would be carried out on all planes before they resumed commercial services,” Reuters reported. “Boeing 737-800 planes with registration numbers close to the one that crashed on March 21 are still undergoing maintenance checks and evaluation.”
The company had grounded its fleet of more than 220 Boeing 737-800 jetliners back on March 21st, the day that the crash happened.
Flightradar24 released data from the flight that showed the aircraft was cruising at just over 29,000 feet when it then plunged more than 20,000 feet in under a minute before slamming into the ground.
“The plane was in the far east of the Guangxi region, where weather reports don’t suggest any possible contributing factors,” The New York Times reported. “Temperatures reached a high of 86 degrees Fahrenheit around 2 p.m., according to the China Meteorological Administration. Winds were moderate at less than 12 miles per hour, and visibility was 10 miles. Rain was forecast for the evening, but no precipitation had been measured at the time of the crash.”
The Times reported that a manager for Wuzhou City Beichen Mining confirmed to the newspaper that their surveillance camera caught an image that appeared to be the plane plunging straight into the ground.
A Boeing 737 has crashed in China with 132 people on board.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an "all-out effort" in rescue operations for the passengers and for any safety hazards to be investigated.https://t.co/kNtjxwrjTG pic.twitter.com/W7x92XA4wr
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) March 21, 2022
“The Boeing 737-800 was knifing through the air at more than 640 miles (966 kilometers) per hour, and at times may have exceeded 700 mph,” Bloomberg News reported. “Sound travels at 761 mph at sea level but slows with altitude as air temperature goes down and is about 663 mph at 35,000 feet.”
The Air Current noted that the fact that Flightradar24 was able to collect data from the flight as it rapidly plunged toward the ground means “the aircraft had electrical power and was able to broadcast tracking telemetry.”
The South China Morning Post, which is owned by the Chinese Alibaba Group, reported that the flight data “depicted a battle for control of China Eastern Airlines flight” as there appears to have been a temporary recovery in altitude followed by a second nosedive that took the plane straight into the ground.
“Even with total loss of power, no aircraft plummets to the ground from 20,000 feet in two minutes with an event at 8,000 feet,” Australian aviation expert Neil Hansford told News.com.au. “I think aircraft technical failure can be ruled out and it will be an external event … I would get on a Boeing 737-800 in an instant with an Australian carrier, so my suggestion would be it won’t be Boeing or aircraft technical related.”
“It is very unlikely the pilot passed out as the non-flying pilot would have been able to very safely take over the flying and land the aircraft,” he continued. “Likely scenarios include pilot suicide, aircraft mid-air collision with military aircraft (they don’t have transponders like civil aircraft), [flight MU5735] was struck by a missile or an on-board explosion. My tipping is a human-induced event or bought down by rogue missile. Debris looks like MH117 over Ukraine, and the Chinese are providing too much information this time which is uncharacteristic.”