Rescuers work at the site of a plane crash on March 22, 2022 in Tengxian County, Wuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800NG aircraft carrying 132 people, including 123 passengers and nine crew me …
The Chinese airliner that crashed into a mountain in March was put into a near-vertical nosedive by someone in the cockpit, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The late March crash killed all 132 passengers on the plane, a Boeing 737-800. Investigators uncovered both black boxes on the plane soon after the crash, and they indicate the plane's controls were used to pitch the aircraft into a dive, according to U.S. officials who spoke with the Journal.
Searchers uncovered the plane's cockpit voice recorder on March 27, sending it to Beijing. China then transferred the device to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in early April. The NTSB also sent investigators to China to assist in the inquiry.
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Firefighters respond after Eastern Airlines plane crashes in China
Firefighters responded after a China Eastern Airlines flight with 132 people on board crashed near Wuzhou, in China’s Guangxi region, on March 21, 2022. Credit: Wuzhou City Fire Rescue via Storyful
The contents of the voice recorder have yet to be publicized, however.
SEVERELY DAMAGED BLACK BOX FROM DOOMED CHINA EASTERN PLANE RECOVERED
Records show the China Eastern Airlines flight was cruising at 29,000 feet before suddenly plummeting into the side of a forested mountain. The aircraft left a 65-foot deep crater, leaving parts strewn across a wide area.
An aircraft controller noticed the plane's sudden drop in altitude and attempted to contact the pilots multiple times, but got no answer.
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China Eastern is one of China's four major airlines, and each of the airlines has grounded all Boeing 737-800s as a precaution. Together the airlines have a total of 223 of the aircraft.
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