• 

  China Eastern Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  MU/CES

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Year Founded:

  1988

  Alliance:

  SkyTeam

  CEO:

  Liu Shaoyong

  Country:

  China

  Hub(s):

  Shanghai Pudong International Airport

  Region:

  Asia

China has sent its initial report on the crash of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The initial report comes 30 days after the jet suddenly plunged to the ground in a mountainous region of China. Sadly, there were no survivors.

Certain processes must be followed when an aircraft crashes. One of these is that a preliminary report must be filed with ICAO within 30 days of such an incident. While the requirement to file the report exists, Reuters reveals that the report's contents don't need to be made publicly available.

What's new?

According to Reuters, the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) has released some new details alongside sending the report to the ICAO. There were reportedly no obvious procedural issues leading to the accident, meaning that the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder will play a key role in the investigation.

Analyzing the voice recorder allows investigators to see exactly what the flight crew was saying before and during the crash. Meanwhile, the flight data recorders will show what the flight controls were doing and what each of the aircraft's various sensors was recording. This should allow investigators to see and hear anything out of the ordinary as if they were there.

Unfortunately for the investigators, this isn't the most straightforward task. It has been reported that both black boxes have suffered from significant damage meaning that recovering the data isn't as simple as if the box was completely undamaged.

Reuters reports that there were no abnormal factors affecting the flight at the time of the crash. The weather was fine, the jet wasn't carrying dangerous goods, its maintenance was up to date, and the crew was fully trained to undertake the flight in question.

What happened to the flight?

It will likely still take a long time before the final report on China Eastern flight MU5735 is released. As such, it will be a while before we know exactly what happened to the Boeing 737-800 on March 21st. There are some things we do know, though.

According to reports, air traffic controllers last contacted the jet at 14:16, shortly before the flight's fatal descent. This appears to have been a normal exchange. Shortly after, the Boeing 737-800 plunged from a cruising altitude of around 29,000 feet. The aircraft fell rapidly to the earth, creating a crater where it made contact. There were no survivors of the accident, though all 132 onboard the flight have been confirmed via DNA.

While it is possible to speculate what caused the tragic crash, we won't know for sure until the full report into the occurrence is published. As mentioned, this will still take some time as no stone will be left unturned.

Simple Flying expresses its sympathy to all those affected by this tragic crash.

Source: Reuters