The accident involving the Boeing 737-800 killed 123 passengers and nine crew members. [File Photo: Shutterstock]
Key Takeaways:
China Eastern Flight MU5735 crashed with no survivors, killing all 132 people aboard (123 passengers and 9 crew members).
The Boeing 737-800 NG experienced a steep descent from cruise altitude before crashing in the sparsely populated Guangxi region, leaving heavily fragmented wreckage.
Chinese officials are leading the investigation, assisted by Boeing and U.S. agencies, and have recovered one of the aircraft's "black boxes."
The recovery and investigation efforts are challenged by deteriorating weather conditions in the crash area.
Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
