The accident involving the Boeing 737-800 killed 123 passengers and nine crew members. [File Photo: Shutterstock]
Key Takeaways:
A piece of wreckage found miles from the main crash site suggests the China Eastern Boeing 737-800 may have experienced an inflight breakup before its abrupt, near-vertical plunge, which involved no distress calls.
One of the aircraft's two black boxes has been recovered and sent for analysis, while difficult recovery efforts continue at the main crash site, hampered by rain.
U.S. aviation authorities are expected to assist in the investigation, and China Eastern Airlines has grounded its entire fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft as a precautionary measure.
A piece of wreckage believed to have come from the China Eastern Airlines jet that crashed on Monday has been found miles from the main impact point.
Based on its discovery, investigators are considering the possibility that the Boeing 737-800 experienced an inflight breakup before the plunge that killed 132 people.
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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.
