China Eastern Airlines plane crash: was it the Boeing 737 Max?
Authorities in China have confirmed that a passenger plane has crashed with 132 people on board, but the reason for the tragic incident is still unknown.
Chinese aviation authorities confirmed on Monday that a passenger plane operated by China Easter Airlines had crashed with 132 people on board.
The plane was flying over Wuzhou, in China’s Guangxi region, on a scheduled flight from Kunming to Guangzhou. It is thought that the flight in question was the MU5735, which began to descend sharply from around 2:20pm local time, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.
Flightradar24 data for China Eastern Airlines flight #MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou.
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 21, 2022
At 06:20:59 UTC the Boeing 737-800 aircraft started to lose altitude very fast. At 06:22:35 UTC last ADS-B signal showed vertical speed -31.000 feet per minute.https://t.co/Lwo8klGf8g pic.twitter.com/UEZaa9asua
Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “shocked” of the tragic incident which is presumed to have cost all 132 people on board their lives. China Eastern Airlines has opened a hotline for family members to keep them up to date on the latest information.
Was the Boeing 737 Max involved in the China airplane crash?
Manufacturer Boeing has been at the central of a number of major incidents in recent years and the company’s shares were down by more than 8% in premarket trade on Monday morning.
Since 2018 manufacturing faults were found to have contributed to fatal crashes of the Lion Air Flight 610 (Indonesia) and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which killed a combined 346 people.
The airline jet involved is a young, 6-year old Boeing 737-800 (but not to be confused with the newer version, the 737 MAX)
— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) March 21, 2022
Initial data looks…horrific - an extremely sudden, sharp descent while overflying a mountain range. #MU5735
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Between March 2019 and December 2020 Boeing was forced to ground its entire global fleet of the 737 Max, a more fuel efficient version of the widely used 737, due to its involvement the two fatal crashes.
However the Boeing 737 Max was not the plane which came down in China on Monday. The model in question was not a Max according to the company.