China plane crash may have been intentional, black box shows
A China Eastern Airlines jet that crashed in March was intentionally brought down by someone in the cockpit, data retrieved from the plane's black box appear to suggest.
The plane carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members intentionally nosedived under the control of someone on board, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with a preliminary assessment by US officials.
"The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit," the WSJ quoted a source as saying.
Black box flight data recorders recovered from the site were sent to the United States for analysis following the crash.
A Western official told Reuters that the focus was on the actions of the crew after the preliminary investigation did not find any indication of a technical malfunction.
Boeing Co, the maker of the jet, declined to comment and referred questions to Chinese regulators. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) did not immediately comment.
In March, the Boeing 737-800 jet, which was en route from Kunming to Guangzhou, crashed in the mountains of Guangxi, after a sudden plunge from cruising altitude, killing all 132 people aboard. It was mainland China's deadliest aviation disaster in 28 years.
Weather at the time of the crash had been “normal”, authorities said in March. The control tower had kept regular contact with the three pilots up until the plane started a sudden descent.
In mid-April, China Eastern resumed use of the 737-800 planes. In a summary of its preliminary crash report last month, Chinese regulators did not point to any technical recommendations on the 737-800, which has been in service since 1997 with a strong safety record, according to experts.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a May 10 Reuters interview that board investigators and Boeing had travelled to China to assist the Chinese investigation. She noted that the investigation to date had not found any safety issues that would require any urgent actions.
Ms Homendy said if the board has any safety concerns it will "issue urgent safety recommendations".
Shares of Boeing were up 5.9 per cent in afternoon trade on Tuesday.
