In March 2022, a China Eastern Boeing 737 operating a domestic flight in China crashed shortly before starting its descent, killing all 132 people onboard. This was an unfathomable accident, as the plane suddenly entered a nosedive, even though investigators agreed that nothing was found to be wrong with the aircraft.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has been leading the investigation, and unfortunately hasn’t been terribly transparent about the cause of what happened. Just last year, the CAAC announced it would withhold a report on the accident, saying “disclosure may endanger national security and social stability.” So authorities weren’t even claiming that they don’t know, they’re just saying that they’re not going to tell us.
Well, we now have a new clue as to what might’ve happened, and it only points even more to the widely held theory that this was a deliberate act (thanks to David for flagging this).
In this post:
NTSB’s investigation on China Eastern 737 crash made public
The aviation industry at large deserves huge credit for the extent to which it prioritizes safety, and tries to learn from every accident to prevent something similar from happening in the future. The main exception to this seems to be when accidents happen in countries where they’d rather save face than actually make the skies safer.
So while the CAAC hasn’t at all been transparent with its findings, we’ve just seen the most meaningful release of data on this accident to date. Earlier this year, a Freedom of Information Act (CAAC) request was filed with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) about the accident, and that data is now available for download.
The widely held belief has been that this accident was a deliberate act, given that no maintenance issues were found, and planes don’t just nosedive toward the ground at cruising altitude for no reason. Here’s exactly what we’ve now learned about the sequence of events:
- Both engines were shut down almost simultaneously using the fuel cutoff switches (and on the 737, those can both be moved at once, even with one hand)
- Almost immediately thereafter, the autopilot was disconnected
- The control column was then pulled hard left and pushed forward, putting the plane into an inverted barrel roll
That order of events can only be explained as a deliberate act.
Of course the engine shutoff detail is pretty wild to consider, because in last year’s Air India Boeing 787 crash, the Dreamliner’s engines were shut off just seconds after takeoff. In the case of the Air India, there was simply no room to recover, since it happened just seconds after takeoff. In the China Eastern 737 situation, there was in theory time to recover, but when combined with putting the plane into a spin, well… that’s what sealed its fate.
The first officer of the flight remains the prime suspect
It of course sucks to speculate about a tragedy where people have lost their lives. But when the authorities responsible for investigating are actively covering up information, it’s only fair to point out some obvious possible factors.
Typically when a pilot intentionally downs a plane, there are lots of clues, at least in retrospect. Authorities in China have refused to release a whole lot of information, though there are details that are widely believed to be true.
For example, we know the captain on the flight was a 32-year-old with 6,700 flight hours, and it’s believed that he had just had a baby. He was doing great in his career.
The first officer, on the other hand, was a 59-year-old with a staggering 31,800 flight hours (this is as many hours as many pilots rack up in their entire career). Despite that, he was a first officer on a narrow body jet. Beyond that, he had reportedly been demoted from captain at some point, and had some issues with some simulator rides.
Authorities have refused to release details of who was in the cockpit at the time the engines were shut off. But this all happened shortly before the start of descent, which is the most common time during a flight for pilots to use the bathroom.
In some ways, the parallels between this and the 1999 crash of EgyptAir flight 990 are almost uncanny. That plane was also sent into a dive while at cruising altitude, with the person in the cockpit being a suspiciously experienced first officer (so much so that he was honorarily referred to as “captain”), and he was reportedly facing disciplinary action over his behavior.
Of course Egyptian authorities have also refused to acknowledge that this was an intentional act, instead insisting it was a catastrophic failure (US authorities reached a different conclusion).
Bottom line
In March 2022, a China Eastern Boeing 737 mysteriously crashed, killing all 132 people onboard. Chinese authorities have outright refused to reveal what happened, claiming that “disclosure may endanger national security and social stability.”
An FOIA with the NTSB now sheds light on the cause of this tragedy. We know the fuel cutoff switches for the engines were simultaneously turned off, then the autopilot was disengaged, then the control column was pushed to send the plane into a nosedive.
I don’t think that leaves much about this situation to the imagination. And it clearly means that China believes acknowledging a pilot intentionally downing a plane would “endanger national security and social stability.” All those poor souls onboard…
This article seems to blame the lack of information being available but there are many incidents around the world where local authorities do not expose information or details.
Damn the CCP and their corruption
No fan of CCP or corruption. And, we've got a broader mental health problem in the industry here, as with Germanwings, Malaysia, Egypt, Silk, Air India, etc.
Misleading title. A FOIA-requested document is NOT the same as a Leak, which is unauthorized.
Indeed - the title is well beyond misleading.
Coincidentally a new documentary just aired here in U.K. looking at the Germanwings FO ‘suicide’ crash into the French Alps en route to Dusseldorf.
The French BEA investigation concluded deliberate action by the FO was the primary cause but his family counter that with known instances of crew-disabling or impairing cockpit fumes, known instances of a flight computer suddenly altering autopilot height setting to 100ft in less time than a human pilot can twist...
Coincidentally a new documentary just aired here in U.K. looking at the Germanwings FO ‘suicide’ crash into the French Alps en route to Dusseldorf.
The French BEA investigation concluded deliberate action by the FO was the primary cause but his family counter that with known instances of crew-disabling or impairing cockpit fumes, known instances of a flight computer suddenly altering autopilot height setting to 100ft in less time than a human pilot can twist the knob, and known instances of the cockpit door access keypad failing - on the crash plane the ‘2’ button wasn’t working.
The retrieval of the Air France recorders from the depths of the mid-Atlantic gives some hope the MH370 black boxes may one day be located and recovered, perhaps giving closure to friends and relatives of the victims.
Ahhh yes, good old “aerotoxicity”, a sham diagnosis up there with chronic Lyme disease and electromagnetic sensitivity. I also don’t buy the malfunctioning autopilot theory - a competent A320 pilot would have been able to diagnose the problem and rectify it long before ground contact. Unfortunately the FOs family still haven’t accepted the stark reality that their son and brother was a mentally unstable mass murderer. A “documentary” proves nothing. Just ask Woody Allen or...
Ahhh yes, good old “aerotoxicity”, a sham diagnosis up there with chronic Lyme disease and electromagnetic sensitivity. I also don’t buy the malfunctioning autopilot theory - a competent A320 pilot would have been able to diagnose the problem and rectify it long before ground contact. Unfortunately the FOs family still haven’t accepted the stark reality that their son and brother was a mentally unstable mass murderer. A “documentary” proves nothing. Just ask Woody Allen or Derek Chauvin.
Um a “simulator ride” is an attraction at an amusement park - ( probably Disneyworld in Florida perhaps) A pilot attends “sim training” or simulator training - please don’t diminish this by using incorrect language
get over yourself
There is a jump seat in the simulator.
A pilot or anyone can sit on it while not being part of the simulation. That's literally a "simulator ride".
Please don't diminish your intelligence by being a smart a**.
Perhaps look at the true meaning -dumbing down the language may be your thing not mine
You know there is a better way to prevent pilot deliberately crash planes.
Remove the human pilots from the controls.
Because sometimes an error is consequential enough it changes the narrative.
For example if you humanly confuse Civil Aviation Administration of China with Freedom of Information Act you will get some very confusing story.
Had the same thought. And still not corrected.
Agreed. AI is coming fast and doesn't downgrade first class passengers.
Seems to reinforce the US airlines requirement for always having two people in the cockpit at all times. While intentional downing is thankfully extremely rare, it seems the “cost” of always having two people in the cockpit (zero?) would make this a simple solution that all airlines should follow at all times. But, maybe there is something I am missing.
If a pilot wants to down an aircraft when the captain is in the bathroom, no 27 year old FA with zero flight training is going to be able to stop him.
No, but that flight attendant can open the flight deck door and let others in,
Good grief. Just kill yourself at home.
Not only that, but "plane crash" isn't typically on anyone's shortlist of "best ways to take your own life."
What a sad and terrifying ordeal for the passengers and FA’s made even worse given it was a deliberate act.
Is it not good that we have the NTSB? And, that it participates in non-US investigations? Why would any administration want to downsize or eliminate it?
Another incident could have been avoided if the rule of having at least 2 person in the cockpit is enforced.
Possibly. The second person, however, would be a flight attendant. Would a FA know what the pilot was doing when he flipped those switches? Very unlikely.
Maybe not, but possible the FA could unlock the door to let the pilot back in and others to help disable the co-pilot. It might not have helped, but it also might have...It absolutely would NOT have hurt.
There have been suggestions here previously that technology would not make it fairly easy to transmit CVR and FDR live and stored off-aircraft
Pilots have been identified as hostile to the idea, but presumably so are certian governments.
How much detail can be deduced from the continuous transmission that the engine manufacturers/servicers already receive?
CVRs work pretty well for accidents that occur on land and that was the case here.
CVR and FDR don't work when a plane plunges into the ocean and is unrecoverable.
the CVR and presumably FDR did their job here.
This wasn't an accident and Ben's information - if it is correct - explains why what he suggests happens likely did and why China doesn't want to make it public any more than India or Egypt do.
The moral of the story: companies treating older employees badly can cost lives. Sadly, not the lives of the makers of bad decisions.
Um, that's a strange place to put moral culpability, especially since you (and I) have no idea whether he was a good employee or not.
Sounds to me like he was a liability. Troubles with simulator checks, demoted from Captain at least once... The real question is how this guy was still flying when he was clearly incompetent, and clearly unhinged. But yeah, go ahead and look for a reason why he was oppressed and discriminated-against. That's bound to be the explanation.
Nothing to do with the simulator. Did you read the entire story?
It’s the parent company mistreated its subsidiary employees, even the pilots. And he’s losing tons of money due to Evergrande Group collapsing at the same time. Both contributed to his suicide. Otherwise, he was supposed to retire in 2022.
Ben can we please stop pretending it's obvious MS990 was a pilot suicide?
But … it is obvious.
That one is more even obvious, due to the other pilot managing to temporarily recover the aircraft.
Everyone except EgyptAir and the Egyptian government thinks the suicide explanation is self-evident.
In addition to EgyptAir 990, it reminds me of SilkAir 185.