So far, there is little information about the events surrounding flight MU 5735.
(Photo: AP)
Frankfurt The very idea is terrifying. But what must have happened on board Flight MU 5735 when the Boeing 737 with 132 people on board crashed nose-down near the city of Wuzhou in less than a minute? The passengers may have lost consciousness due to the enormous pressure on their bodies prior to impact.
Like so much about this event, this is only a guess so far. Even one day after the tragic crash of the China Eastern plane, only a few details are known. It is unclear whether and how quickly further information will be made public. Because the Chinese government will probably keep everything under strict control here.
However, the facts available so far are puzzling. Because the facts do not match the data from previous plane crashes with technical causes.
There is the flight history. The jet took off from Kunming at 1:16 p.m. local time. Everything seemed to be going according to plan, until around 2:20 p.m. the Boeing was moving southeast at the usual cruising altitude of 29,100 feet (almost 8,900 meters) and was about to start the approach to Guangzhou.
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Then the unbelievable happened. According to data from Flightradar24, in about two and a half minutes the machine dropped to 7425 feet, a violent descent of over 6600 meters. After that, the jet apparently recovered and climbed back to 8,600 feet for a few seconds. The plane then pitched over and in just 20 seconds fell to 3225 feet, the last recorded altitude. The plane is said to have hit the ground at over 800 kilometers per hour.
The crash happened in Tengxian in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
(Photo: IMAGO/Xinhua)
The irritating thing is that even passenger planes that have lost all their engines are able to stay in the air longer. There remains the possibility of a serious problem in the structure of the aircraft. This could be damage to the fuselage, for example, or the loss of important controls that keep the jet stable.
Engine failure does not explain the dive
However, the videos of the jet’s fall circulating on the Internet – if they should be real – show no fire or smoke. In order to be able to recognize any damage to the aircraft, the images are again too imprecise and too blurry. Nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that the pilots had to contend with major technical problems. Only the flight data recorder and the voice recorder will be able to provide information about this.
On the other hand, the plane was just under seven years old. The Boeing 737 NG is considered one of the most reliable short and medium-haul jets. Around 7,000 of these are in use around the world – with an average of four flights a day. China Eastern, on the other hand, has not been noticed as an airline suspected of being careless in maintaining its fleet. The last serious accident happened in 2004 when a regional jet crashed. 55 people lost their lives.
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Another conspicuous feature: the pilots did not make an emergency call. If a plane drops so rapidly, as on flight MU 5735, the pilots will frantically try to intercept the jet again and bring it into a stable flight position. Even experienced pilots can reach their limit, depending on how many mistakes and unexpected events hit them. It is possible that there was no time for an emergency call.
According to current knowledge, the captain had completed around 7,000 flight hours, while the co-pilot had 30,000 hours. This is also a rather unusual relationship. Usually the captain is the one with more flying experience. Nevertheless, sufficient flying experience was on board. In addition, a training pilot is said to have been on board.
Speculations of a pilot’s suicide
All of this makes the crash in China puzzling and fueling speculation about the possible cause. On the The Aviation Herald portal, which records problems with flights worldwide, many suspect a so-called extended suicide, as was the case with the Germanwings crash in 2015 in the French Alps.
They point to parallels with Silk Air 185 flight. The 737-300 crashed into the Musi River near Palembang in Sumatra on December 19, 1997. 97 passengers and seven crew members died. The accident is attributed to the captain’s suicide. However, this has not been officially confirmed to date. The final report from the Indonesian authority NTSC leaves the cause of the crash open.
Others on The Aviation Herald platform warn against jumping to conclusions in the heated debate. Targeted sabotage or fatal pilot errors should not be ruled out either. The experts were irritated that the pilots were able to stabilize the jet for a short time and regain altitude. The pilots may have allowed the aircraft to climb too steeply, resulting in a stall.
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