China Eastern plane crash may have been intentional says investigators.
Black box data recovered from a China Eastern Airlines flight that crashed in March suggests someone in the cockpit intentionally downed the plane, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Investigators have so far found no mechanical or technical faults to cause the Boeing 737-800 plane to go into a catastrophic dive.
The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed source who said: “The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit.”
The plane’s flight-data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered from the crash and sent to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington DC for analysis.
Chinese authorities said there was no emergency code sent from the plane before the crash.
The pilots also did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers and nearby planes during their rapid descent.
Officials involved in the investigation have not ruled out that a passenger or cabin crew member could have broken into the cockpit and overpowered the pilots at the controls.
Boeing Co, the maker of the jet, and the NTSB declined to comment and referred questions to Chinese regulators.
In a statement to the Journal, China Eastern said no evidence has emerged that could determine whether or not there were problems with the aircraft involved in the accident. The airline told the Journal that the pilots’ health and family conditions were good, and added that their financial status was also in good shape.
“Any unofficial speculation may interfere with the accident investigation and affect the real progress of the global air transport industry,” the airline told the Journal.
The plane was flying between the southern Chinese cities of Kunming and Guangzhou when it crashed.
All 132 passengers and crew on board the plane died, making it mainland China’s deadliest aviation disaster in 28 years.
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