China Boeing 737 Crash: What we know so far - A long lasting impact to aviation market and industry

On March 21st, China experienced one of the worst airliner accident in recent history. The tragedy is clearly very hard for aviation safety investigators due to many reasons. There is no large piece of wreckage found in the crash site, a proof that the impact is beyond imagination.

Here is what we know so far.

Around one o’clock on March 21st, a Chinese Eastern Airline Boeing 737-800 aircraft was carrying out Flight MU5735 mission, carrying 132 people including the crew. It left Kunming city in South China, and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou at around 3 o’clock. The plane, with registration number B-1791, was delivered on June 22, 2015. It was less than 7 years old, a fairly new plane, and it is not the controversial 737 MAX plane which has not resumed service in China.

Flight MU5735 took off without incident and reached an altitude of about 7,500 meters 10 minutes after liftoff. Then it cruised at an altitude of about 8,869 meters, according to flight tracking websites. The plane then flew at around 830 kilometers per hour over Yunnan province. Everything appear to be normal in the flight for 63 minutes.

At 14:19, the aircraft suddenly descended from its cruising altitude, and its speed compared to ground object began to decrease from about 845 kilometers per hour, to a much slower speed. In just 3 minutes, the plane dropped over 7000 meters. At the last moment, it was measured that the plane picked up a record of 696 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 983 meters.

It was about 1300 meters when it sent out the last known signal at 14:22. In about three minutes, the plane plunged from cruising altitude to the ground, creates a huge mystery.

Flight data also indicates at one point the crew managed to pull up the plane to a certain degree, as the plane’s direction, speed and altitude shows it was pulling out of nosedive at the time. However within seconds the plane dived again, and crashed to ground.
It was clearly nosediving to the ground at almost 90 degree angle. The energy generated by the plunge smashed everything onboard, it is a tragedy that so far no large piece of remains can be located, despite thousands of rescue team members are searching onsite. The crash also triggered a wildfire, which was was soon put out. It is clear that the investigation will be very difficult, as the black box has not been located.

The impact might have torn the flight data recorder, and destroyed its multiple beacons, including radio wave transmitters. If the black box can not provide sufficient data, investigator will face a major challenge looking into the cause of the accident.

That is also one reason Chinese authority sent in many rescue teams to go through large amount of pieces of wreckages and remains in the area, as the black box might not be intact and becomes difficult to find.

China Eastern has grounded all of its 737-800 flights since the crash. Experts said it was a routine risk precaution until the cause of the accident was known.

Boeing is cooperating with authority and China Eastern airlines. Meanwhile, Boeing is in contact with the US National Transportation Safety Board and technical experts are ready to assist the Chinese counterpart in its investigation. It is worth highlighting that this will impact Boeing 737 MAX returning to service in China.

In recent months, MAX has been proceeded with test flights in China, and media reports indicated progress has been made, MAX should return to service in Chinese market in 2022, but now a major delay is expected. It would be a huge blow to Boeing if more previous generation 737 planes are grounded, so far only China Eastern Airline is grounded its older 737 planes. Boeing share price already went down after the accident.

The tragedy took away 132 lives, one of the worst accidents in recent years, and it occurred in China, a country has world class civilian aviation safety record. For 12 years, China has not seen any fatal airliner accident. It is expected at least for the short term, a large amount of travelers might switch to high speed rail services in China, casting a shadow to already struggling Chinese and international aviation market and industry.

And if it is proven Boeing 737 800 has any defect not known before, it will create a huge ripple in international aviation market, changing what we have been understanding about this most popular airliner in the world for decades.

Chinese military news play list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIRTFwkOjzw&list=PLofQNsLszRLLmrmgQO6Lt4qnWZUaYx6ls
China Air Force: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uYlcS-a_HI&list=PLofQNsLszRLKAqgLS90Cn_hzZjg_IuSWm
Chinese space exploration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJaDP7cRxx4&list=PLofQNsLszRLJvyUJ9_1AJ7uSqZPcdDZRu

Photo and video: Wiki common, Boeing website, China Eastern Airline weibo, Yangshipin site