WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) – Flight data from a black box recovered from a China Eastern Airlines plane (600115.SS) that crashed in March show that someone on the cockpit deliberately crashed the plane, Wall reported. Street Journal on Tuesday, quoting people familiar with the preliminary assessment of US officials.
A Western official told Reuters that the focus was on the crew’s actions after a preliminary investigation found no signs of a technical malfunction.
Boeing Co (BA.N), the aircraft maker, and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) declined to comment and asked Chinese regulators.
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In March, a Boeing 737-800 flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed in the Guangxi Mountains after falling suddenly from a cruising altitude, killing all 123 passengers and nine crew members on board. It was the deadliest plane crash in mainland China in 28 years. Read more
The pilots did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers and nearby planes during the rapid descent, authorities said.
China Eastern could not be immediately released for comment on Tuesday, but the Wall Street Journal said the airline said in a statement that no evidence had emerged to determine if there were any problems with the plane in the crash.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In mid-April, China Eastern resumed the use of 737-800 aircraft. In a summary of their preliminary report on the crash last month, Chinese regulators did not provide any technical recommendations for the 737-800, which has been in operation since 1997 with strong safety indicators, according to experts.
NTSB chairman Jennifer Homendi said in an interview with Reuters on May 10 that investigators on board and Boeing had traveled to China to help the Chinese investigation. She noted that the investigation has so far not identified any safety issues that require urgent action.
Homendi said that if the board had any safety concerns, it would “issue urgent safety recommendations”. The NTSB also assisted Chinese investigators in reviewing the flight recorder and voice recorder in the cockpit of the US Laboratory in Washington.
Shares of Boeing rose 6.1% in afternoon trading.
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Report by David Shepardson in Washington, Tim Heffer in Paris and Abhid Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Edited by Devika Semnat, Leslie Adler and Margerita Choi
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