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China Eastern MU5735 737-800 [not MAX] Crashed 21 March 2022, 132 onboard

Old Mar 21, 2022, 4:38 am
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China Eastern MU5735 737-800 [not MAX] Crashed 21 March 2022, 132 onboard

Old Mar 22, 2022, 3:59 pm
  #76  
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Originally Posted by dhuey
Of course it's pure speculation on my part, but I've seen above that the nose-dive happened right around the time the plane would have begun its normal descent. In my experience as a passenger, that's when the pilots often make their restroom breaks. I think the timing of the problem makes pilot suicide/mass murder a most plausible explanation. I don't know if this Chinese airline does what U.S. airlines do with swapping in/out a FA for a pilot with restroom breaks. But really, what would a FA in the cockpit do if the pilot were to suddenly point the plane down in an almost vertical trajectory? Maybe grab the controls at the vacant seat and try to pull up? That would be consistent with this plane's ill-fated path to the ground.
So what are possible causes? My Holiday Inn Express version of the more likely causes are:

1. pilot suicide (50%)
2. yet unexplained large un-commanded rudder deflection (20%)
3. microburst/weather (10%)
4. yet unexplained large un-commanded elevator deflection (10%)
5. hijacking and disabling of the pilots (9%)
6. bomb (1%)
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 4:15 pm
  #77  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
I think I read somewhere that there were three pilots on this flight, although I'm not sure why MU would fly with three.
That's common in China. They fly around with three pilots in a 50-seat E-145.
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 4:25 pm
  #78  
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They might not get the CVR/FDR back https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...d-before-crash

”The China Eastern Airlines Corp. jet that crashed Monday was traveling at close to the speed of sound in the moments before it slammed into a hillside, according to a Bloomberg News review of flight-track data.

“Such an impact may complicate the task for investigators because it can obliterate evidence and, in rare cases, damage a plane’s data and voice recorders that are designed to withstand most crashes.”

Last edited by l etoile; Mar 22, 2022 at 4:59 pm Reason: Added article summary per rules
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 4:30 pm
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Originally Posted by Lomapaseo
Makes me wonder what G load it took to recover ..... but that must await more hardware and FDR evidence, perhaps even the CVR would confirm something about this ala GOL if they don't find the FDR
I actually ran the numbers for the final couple minutes based on ADS-B data. Basically change in vspeed from previous reading converted to acceleration in g +1g for constant gravity load.

It's some interesting data that show two distinct nearly 2g recovery maneuvers. Also shows that it was accelerating toward the ground, not just in freefall.

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Old Mar 22, 2022, 4:36 pm
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Originally Posted by Toshbaf
So what are possible causes? My Holiday Inn Express version of the more likely causes are:

1. pilot suicide (50%)
2. yet unexplained large un-commanded rudder deflection (20%)
3. microburst/weather (10%)
4. yet unexplained large un-commanded elevator deflection (10%)
5. hijacking and disabling of the pilots (9%)
6. bomb (1%)
Doesn't fit with the intense recovery part. Unless the other pilot was wrestling with the controls.

I'd add some sort of stabilizer deflection or jackscrew problem (different from the elevators), some sort of massive structural failure like a piece of wing, stabilizer, tail, etc... falling off.

Just thinking maybe a door fell off, hit something very important but they didn't know and initiated an emergency descent but then quickly found it unrecoverable and things may have gotten more damaged from the speed and recovery attempts.
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 5:21 pm
  #81  
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Originally Posted by LupineChemist
Doesn't fit with the intense recovery part. Unless the other pilot was wrestling with the controls.
One possibility is other pilot was in the restroom while the FA in that pilot's place wrestled with their controls.
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 5:48 pm
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Originally Posted by LupineChemist
I actually ran the numbers for the final couple minutes based on ADS-B data. Basically change in vspeed from previous reading converted to acceleration in g +1g for constant gravity load.

It's some interesting data that show two distinct nearly 2g recovery maneuvers. Also shows that it was accelerating toward the ground, not just in freefall.

Acceleration downward is consistent with trying to recover from a stall. And the stall speed could have been substantially increased if parts of the aircraft were damaged or fell off.
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 6:26 pm
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Originally Posted by STS-134
Acceleration downward is consistent with trying to recover from a stall. And the stall speed could have been substantially increased if parts of the aircraft were damaged or fell off.
Wouldn't a stall be some short acceleration downward and then relatively little as it would be in freefall? Each minor gridline is 15s so that's almost 30 seconds of increasing the fall rate until getting to negative gs. I would think it would have to be a powered dive to maintain such a continued decrease in vspeed.

Also IAS was 457 kts at that point.
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 6:52 pm
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Originally Posted by LupineChemist
Also IAS was 457 kts at that point.
Ground speed, not indicated airspeed. IAS won't be determined until the FDR is recovered and the data retrieved.

In any case, the Vmo, the maximum IAS is 340. In cruise flight, IAS in the mid-200s.
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 7:41 pm
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Originally Posted by dhuey
One possibility is other pilot was in the restroom while the FA in that pilot's place wrestled with their controls.
Yep, super common time for a pilot restroom break is right before beginning the descent.
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 8:03 pm
  #86  
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Originally Posted by dhuey
One possibility is other pilot was in the restroom while the FA in that pilot's place wrestled with their controls.
And the third pilot was scoring the fight between the second pilot and the FA....
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 8:16 pm
  #87  
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Originally Posted by nk15
And the third pilot was scoring the fight between the second pilot and the FA....
I'm surprised to see any discussion of a third pilot. I've flown on quite a few 737s over the years, and best I can recall, it's always been with only two on-duty pilots (not counting uniformed pilots in the cabin getting a free ride).

Is it confirmed that there were three on-duty pilots for this flight?
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 8:33 pm
  #88  
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Originally Posted by dhuey
....
Is it confirmed that there were three on-duty pilots for this flight?
Pretty much.

Read about it from several sources.
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 8:41 pm
  #89  
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Originally Posted by LarryJ
That's common in China. They fly around with three pilots in a 50-seat E-145.
That's interesting but WHY? It seems more costly than necessary.

Originally Posted by dhuey
One possibility is other pilot was in the restroom while the FA in that pilot's place wrestled with their controls.
However, the MU flight had three pilots. If one goes to the lav, two remain in the cockpit, perhaps with a FA coming into the cockpit too.

Last edited by NewbieRunner; Mar 25, 2022 at 10:34 am Reason: Please use multi-quote function
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Old Mar 22, 2022, 8:59 pm
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Originally Posted by STS-134
Acceleration downward is consistent with trying to recover from a stall. And the stall speed could have been substantially increased if parts of the aircraft were damaged or fell off.
This does indeed look like stall, acceleration, recovery, and unrecoverable stall again...to my untrained eye...but I don't know if it fits all the measurements...

It reminds me a bit of the Colgan Air crash, that stalled irrecoverably right at final approach...due to icing, wrong inputs and crew fatigue.
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