Chinese Boeing jet crashes in mountains with 132 on board, no sign of survivors

[muriel_volestrangler]

Last edited Mon Mar 21, 2022, 10:17 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Reuters

BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - A China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) Boeing 737-800 with 132 people on board crashed in mountains in southern China on a domestic flight on Monday after a sudden descent from cruising altitude. Media said there were no signs of survivors.

The airline said it deeply mourned the loss of passengers and crew, without specifying how many people had been killed.

Chinese media showed brief highway video footage from a vehicle's dashcam apparently showing a jet diving to the ground behind trees at an angle of about 35 degrees off vertical. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.

The plane was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong, when it crashed.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-eastern-airlines-passenger-jet-has-accident-guangxi-state-media-says-2022-03-21/

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The BBC says there's a fire in woods in the area: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-60819760

(updated at source - was:

China Eastern Airlines Boeing jet crashes in China, state media says

BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - A China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) aircraft with 133 people on board crashed in mountains in south China on Monday while on a flight from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou, state media reported.

The jet involved in the accident was a Boeing 737 aircraft and the number of casualties was not immediately known, CCTV said. Rescue was on its way, it said.

There was no word on the cause of the crash of the plane, a 6-year-old 737-800 aircraft, according to Flightradar24.

The China Eastern flight from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1:11 p.m. (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed. The flight tracking ended at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) an altitude of 3225 feet with a speed of 376 knots.)

[Sgent]

1. Assuming FlightRadar24 is correct

this is NOT a Max but an 737-800NG. That said it is always tough when a new plane goes down.

[James48]

2. The max still is not approved to return to flight by China.

And the flight path of this is far different than the Max crashes.

This one was flying normal at 30k and then it went straight down. Video shows the decent. It’s on YouTube. https://fb.watch/bU6GkZBWLD/

[Native]

3. Does a nosedive like that point to something deliberate?

[James48]

4. Possibly.

Way too early to know. They’ll need to find the black boxes to know for sure. Ask again in six months.

[Major Nikon]

6. The aircraft appears to be intact prior to the crash

In order for it not to be deliberate it would naturally have to be something catastrophic. Structural failure comes to mind, but doesn’t appear to be the case at least from what I can see from the video. Some sort of flight control issue seems unlikely. The 737 is controlled by steel cables that control hydraulic actuators near the flight controls. All sorts of redundancies exist and it’s hard to imagine any sort of failure that would cause such a nose down attitude. Pilot incapacitation is possible due to pressurization issues, but you’d expect the plane to fly normally on autopilot until fuel exhaustion, but even if the autopilot were kicked off such a nose down attitude seems unlikely.

[Nay]

7. What's amazing to me is that the plane seems intact as it impacts. In the Silk Air

flight 185, the pilot was determined to have committed suicide with his plane in just this manner. His plane, however, started to break up in the descent and tail/rudder pieces were found away from the main crash. That plane descended 15,000 feet in 30 seconds.

It's hard to imagine what sort of airplane malfunction would lead to this. Bless those poor people.

[oldsoftie]

8. While its still early, it does look very odd.

I mean, if all power was lost wouldn't there still be manual control over rudders & flaps? I would think even a decompression incident wouldn't be STRAIGHT DOWN like that.
I am not a pilot, but I know we have several here.

[Major Nikon]

9. I'm pretty sure there's no manual reversion in the 737

Hydraulics have to work for flight controls and hydraulics require pressure which requires power. However there’s multiple sources for that power. You have both engine powered and electrically powered hydraulic pumps and there’s an impeller that drops out if all electrical power is lost.

[EX500rider]

13. The crashes it most resembles to me were the deliberate ones...

..like Germanwings Flight 9525 or SilkAir Flight 185 or EgyptAir 990
Fairly new plane (6 years old) no maydays, no sign of fire or break up, just headed straight down.

[Nay]

14. Yep. Unfortunately. nt

[MissB]

5. Oh wow that *was* straight down.

Physics dictates zero survival.

[maxsolomon]

10. Tragic.

This was a short flight - 2 hours.

[beaglelover]

11. Tragic news. I feel so bad for the people onboard.

Given the prevalence of the 737-800 series in service, I hope they get to the bottom of this crash soon.

[llashram]

12. it fell

nose first straight into the ground...that was a horrible crash no chance to survive.