Report: Data Suggests Intentional Nosedive in China Eastern Plane Crash

Flight data reportedly indicates that someone in the cockpit of a China Eastern Airlines flight intentionally crashed the Boeing 737-800 on March 21, killing all 132 people on board, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Thom Patterson

Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 05:10 PM ET

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China Eastern Airlines has returned its fleet of 737-800 aircraft to the air. [File photo: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

Preliminary U.S. official assessments, based on recovered flight data, indicate that someone on the flight deck intentionally crashed China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735, killing all 132 people aboard.
The Boeing 737-800 plunged from 29,000 feet in a near-vertical dive, with control inputs reportedly pushing the aircraft into its fatal descent.
Previous investigations had ruled out mechanical issues, adverse weather, or crew training problems as factors in the March 2022 crash.
Both "black boxes"—the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder—are currently being analyzed by the NTSB in Washington, D.C.

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Recovered flight data reportedly indicates that someone on the flight deck of a China Eastern Airlines flight intentionally crashed the Boeing 737-800 last March 21, killing all 132 people on board, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The journal report cites “people familiar with U.S. officials’ preliminary assessment of what led to the accident.”

During the 90-minute flight from Kunming to Guangzhou, China, the airliner went into a near vertical dive over a rural area, impacting a mountain so hard that it fragmented, leaving a crater 60 feet deep.