China Eastern Airlines crash that killed 132 appears to have been 'intentional': US report

The Eastern Airlines plane crash that killed 132 on board was "deliberately" flown into the mountainside, said a report by US officials who analysed the black box flight recorder. Input from the cockpit as recorded suggested that someone at controls "intentionally" led the Boeing 737-800 aircraft to take the fatal dive. "The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit," an anonymous source told the Wall Street Journal.

Simultaneous to the Chinese investigation, the US is involved in the probe of the incident as the flight was manufactured in America. The aviation experts further noted the absence of 'may day' calls or loss of signal data before the flight plummeted from 20,000 ft altitude in just over a minute. The craft crashed near the city of Wuzhou in Guangxi province on March 21. The crash was similar to the Germanwings in 2015 when the pilot willingly rammed the plane flying 150 passengers after crossing the Swiss Alps. All passengers on board were killed.

No mechanical or flight-control issues: Report

While fault in design was reported in the previous two crashes of 2018 and 2019 of Boeing 737-Max that led to its grounding, the 737-800 model is widely used for service around the world. Nevertheless, as per WSJ, Chinese authorities probing the March 21 flight crash did not flag faulty mechanical or flight-control issues to their US counterparts. Apart from this, the pilot and co-pilot were also reportedly in good health as they took off from the Kunming airport. Further, there was no report of an intruder or forced entrance to the cockpit.

The plane crashed after 'near-vertical' descent

Speaking to ABC News, US officials revealed that the Eastern Airlines plane crashed in a "near-vertical" descent, which is believed to require intentional force. The crash left a 66-foot hole in the ground, Chinese officials had said during the preliminary investigation. The first black box war was retrieved on March 23 followed by the cockpit recorder on March 27. Data assessed by the US National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) and the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed that the Eastern 5735 plummeted from an altitude of 29,000 feet to 8,000 feet, levelled for a while, and went into freefall.

(Image: AP)