A China Eastern 737-800 crashed in Southern China this morning, with fears mounting that all 132 passengers and crew onboard are dead.
China Eastern 737-800 Crash – What Happened To MU5735?
Here’s what we know so far about the crash:
- MU5735, operating from Kunming (KMG) to Guangzhou (CAN)
- The flight was operated by a six-year-old Boeing 737-800 aircraft, registered B-1791
- 132 passengers and crewmembers were onboard
- 123 passengers
- 9 crew members
- The aircraft appeared to make a rapid uncontrolled descent according to flight tracking data
- Unverified video and pictures include aircraft parts and a large plume of smoking emanating from the crash site
- Chinese state media have noted, “A rescue team has assembled and is approaching. The situation with casualties remains unclear.”
#Breaking CCTV news just reported a China Eastern Boeing 737 was involved in an accident in a mountain range in Tengxian, Guangxi. 133 passengers onboard. Rescue effort has been dispatched. Fire reported. Injured and casualties unknown. pic.twitter.com/NV9fErNDQU
— FATIII Aviation (@FATIIIAviation) March 21, 2022
#MU5735
Not a good sign🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/0Djd0jdut9— ChinaAviationReview (@ChinaAvReview) March 21, 2022
Data flight FlightRadar24 shows the sudden drop as the aircraft approached Guangzhou:
This is a breaking news story.
image: Alec Wilson
Horrible and tragic for the families, hard to imagine.
We all know planes don’t just drop out of the sky at 30,000 so something is at play here. I did see the FAA has offered their help already.
As for Boeing, means nothing on the overall scale of this tragedy, but stock down over 5% pre market.
The video is completely crazy. It was totally in a vertical nosedive and appears intact. I agree, this is very bizarre.
One of the flight data recorders has been recovered in a very damaged form. The other is still missing. Other incidents have had missing flight data recorders such as the Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared supposedly in the Indian Ocean. Why isn’t the data that is recorded on the flight data recorders encrypted and transmitted to secure international data storage with the encryption keys being held by a country or several countries that cannot be pressured into releasing them without consensus of the stakeholders? I’m almost sure that there wouldn’t be serious objection to the release of the keys in this case to the proper authorities. Maybe the encrypted transmission would end before the recording in the actual flight data recorders would (say for instance that the transmission antenna failed during the seconds leading up to the crash), but the background information for hours prior to the crash would be available much sooner. Maybe by creating a smarter system, future planes would not go missing.
In fact, the flight voice recorder cannot fully disclose this considering the privacy of the pilot and the human rights of a deceased person.