Today marks the two year anniversary of a China Eastern Boeing 737’s fatal crash in China, killing all 132 people onboard, including 123 passengers and nine crew members. Despite the amount of time that has passed, investigators claim they still have no clue what happened. The question is, do they really not know, or do they just not want to admit it?
Chinese regulators have no leads with China Eastern 737 crash
On March 21, 2022, China Eastern flight MU5735 was scheduled to operate from Kunming (KMG) to Guangzhou (CAN). The 665-mile flight was operated by a Boeing 737-800 with the registration code B-1791, first delivered to the airline in 2015.
The flight started routinely, but shortly before the aircraft was scheduled to start its descent, the aircraft entered a sudden nosedive, whereby it descended from 29,100 feet to 7,400 feet. The aircraft briefly leveled off, climbed to 9,225 feet, and then entered a nosedive once again, until it crashed into a mountain. This entire situation took under two minutes, with a maximum descent rate of over 32,000 feet per minute.
Also keep in mind that throughout this entire incident, there was no communication between pilots and air traffic controllers. While the priority is always on aviating over communicating, that’s still quite unusual.
Suffice it to say that this was a terrifying accident, and I feel horribly for what the passengers onboard endured. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has been in charge of the investigation into the accident, though hasn’t had much luck with actually determining the root cause of the accident… or so it claims.
On the two year anniversary of the accident, regulators have issued an updated report on their progress with the crash investigation. The CAAC states that this crash is “very complicated and rare,” though has ruled out a variety of factors. Before the crash, there were no abnormalities with aircraft control commands or with radio communication. Furthermore, there was no bad weather in the area, the plane wasn’t carrying any dangerous goods, and the pilots were fully certified, had sufficient rest, etc.
The CAAC states that it’s continuing to investigate this incident, and will continue to carry out experimental verification and cause analysis, and release relevant information based on the progress of the investigation.
In reality, this latest update provides very little new information compared to what we knew within weeks of the accident.
Do Chinese regulators really not know what happened?
One of the reasons that aviation is so safe is because we learn something from every accident, and make updates to ensure something similar doesn’t happen in the future. Most aviation regulators around the globe do an incredible job with investigating accidents, and making our skies safer.
One certainly can’t help but wonder what’s going on here. Do regulators in China really not know what happened, or are they covering it up? Keep in mind that shortly after the incident, a US official suggested that the accident was intentional, and that someone made the control column input that caused a nosedive.
Everything points to that being the case. Planes don’t just suddenly go into a nosedive for no reason, especially with no evidence of a technical fault. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem like any control column was jammed, based on the fact that the plane briefly leveled off, and then once again entered a nosedive.
If this was intentional, the logical question is who caused this. Was it one of the pilots? Did someone else take control of the aircraft? It’s interesting to look at who was in the cockpit, as there were three pilots:
- The captain was a 32-year-old who had 6,709 flight hours
- The first officer was a 59-year-old who had 31,769 flight hours, who was a flight instructor for China Eastern and trained more than 100 captains, and who had been awarded the honorary title of “Meritorious Pilot” of civil aviation in 2011
- The second officer was a 27-year-old who had a total of 556 flight hours, but he was just observing the cockpit and was being trained, and wasn’t actually flying
Looking at those three pilots, there’s one person who stands out. The first officer was literally one of China’s most experienced pilots, had received awards for his piloting, and was a training captain… yet he was now only a first officer on the Boeing 737?!
It’s my understanding that shortly before the accident, he had been demoted from captain to first officer, for having failed some simulator tests (which is concerning in its own right, when you consider he was a training captain). This obviously comes with a major pay cut, and that can put financial stress on anyone.
Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean he was the one who intentionally crashed the plane, though it makes you wonder if there may have been more clues pointing to that. There are all kinds of rumors regarding unusual behavior from the first officer in the days leading up to the accident, though regulators haven’t stated anything publicly about that.
I have to imagine that the Chinese government knows a lot more than it’s saying. Keep in mind that China Eastern is majority owned by the Chinese government. It doesn’t look good for any airline when a crash happens due to something like a pilot intentionally downing the plane.
The other thing is that regulators can’t easily lie and claim there was some aircraft fault, since obviously Boeing and other global investigators would seek verification of that. So it almost seems like the CAAC is trying to sweep this under the rug by being as vague as possible, hoping that eventually people just stop caring.
Bottom line
It’s the two year anniversary of the crash of a Chinese Eastern Boeing 737, whereby the plane plunged into a mountain in under two minutes, tragically leading to the death of 132 people. Even two years later, investigators in China claim they have no clue what happened, though note that nothing was wrong with the plane, the radio communication, the weather, or the cargo.
Everything is pointing in one direction, yet the CAAC is doing very little to acknowledge that. I’m curious if we’ll ever learn more about what really happened.
What do you think — will we ever learn the truth of what happened with China Eastern flight 5735?
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