Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > Other Asian, Australian, and South Pacific Airlines
Reload this Page >

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

Community
Wiki Posts
Search
Old Mar 21, 2022, 4:38 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: starflyergold
WELCOME, MODERATOR GUIDELINES and SUMMARY
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING
If you are new to us, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Who we are: FlyerTalk features discussions and chat boards that covers the most up-to-date traveler information; an interactive community dedicated to the topic of travel (not politics or arguments about politics or religion, etc.)

All travelers are welcome in the community. Just choose a forum: conversing about airlines and their programs, airports, destinations, dining and how to make the most of your miles and points, or visit our Information Desk to start.

We do have some Rules, and everyone agrees to abide by these when they are granted free membership privileges. On a topic that generates a lot of feelings and perspectives, please remember "welcoming, respectful" are key words on FlyerTalk.

As with previous accident threads, please observe the following in this thread:

1. The normal FT Rules apply. (Including not discussing moderation actions on-thread). And please be particularly attentive to "discussing the idea and not the poster" when you have a disagreement. Civility and mutual respect are still expected and are what we owe each other as a community.

2. You are expected to respect our diversity, and therefore refrain from posting inflammatory comments about race, religion, culture, politics, ethnicity, orientation, etc." Do not cite, copy, or report on such.

3. Please do continue to be attentive to the sensibilities of the families of those on the flight. Think about if you were them what you would and would not want to see posted. Reasonable speculation about what happened is permissible; please, though, do not indulge in inflammatory or overly-lurid descriptions or depictions (or links to same) that could well be hurtful.

4. Overly / extravagantly exaggerative posts such as conspiracy theories, posts beyond the realm of science and known facts, etc. as well as posts with information that has been posted several times previously may be summarily deleted. Moderator actions may not be discussed in posts on FlyerTalk.

5. FlyerTalk complies with international copyright agreements. Please do not post full copyrighted articles; summarize the salient points, cite properly and post links. Entire copyrighted articles will be summarily deleted.

6. In addition, those who repeatedly fail to comply with FlyerTalk Rules or the guidelines for this thread may be subjected to FlyerTalk disciplinary actions and have membership privileges suspended, forum masks, etc.
Print Wikipost

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

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Mar 21, 2022, 3:44 am
  #1  
Suspended
Original Poster
Hilton Contributor BadgeHyatt Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Jul 2020
Programs: Delta Gold Medallion, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,010
China Eastern MU5735 737-800 [not MAX] Crashed 21 March 2022, 132 onboard

Confirmed by MU, FR and C Media.

China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed today in the Mountain regions. 133 passengers on board. 7-year-old Boeing 737-800.

Flight radar link: https://fr24.com/data/flights/mu5735#2b367bc1


CCTV Video link of vertical crash:



Last edited by Gertjaars; Mar 21, 2022 at 5:45 am
Gertjaars is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 4:23 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 2,345
RIP. That last video is absolutely horrific. Looks like it was a straight nosedive down towards ground...
CX HK is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 4:31 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Seattle & Seoul.... and now, Maastricht....
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, NWA WorldPerks deserter, Alaska Airlines Something-er-Other...
Posts: 1,886
Unhappy

Originally Posted by CX HK
RIP. That last video is absolutely horrific. Looks like it was a straight nosedive down towards ground...

Horrible! When I first saw a report of a crash, I was hoping for survivors. Not after seeing that.
Paella747 is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 4:55 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 75
This is terrible. Fell from cruising altitude directly. 737-800 just over 6 years old. Can't see any survivors.
chrisfwm is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 5:47 am
  #5  
Suspended
Original Poster
Hilton Contributor BadgeHyatt Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Jul 2020
Programs: Delta Gold Medallion, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,010
Boeing and MU doing press conference later today.

Updated OP with another video link, dashcam footage from a driver.
Gertjaars is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 6:03 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Programs: BA Gold, *A Gold, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 241
Looking at the data and the lack of pilot effort to correct the dive, would it be wrong to assume this dive was pilot induced?
hartwith is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 6:07 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: MAD
Programs: IB+, BAEC
Posts: 3,106

The ADS-B data for the last couple minutes is crazy. Seems that it was somehow mildly recoverable and then was lost again. But that video shows a very intense angle.

My layman but enthusiast guess would be either a stab issue (jackscrew failure?) or pilot suicide

Last edited by LupineChemist; Mar 21, 2022 at 6:44 am Reason: Fixed tweet link
LupineChemist is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 6:39 am
  #8  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,399
Originally Posted by hartwith
Looking at the data and the lack of pilot effort to correct the dive, would it be wrong to assume this dive was pilot induced?
First thing I could think of too, reminded me of the German pilot what, a decade ago? Tragic no matter what.
Smiley90 is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 7:00 am
  #9  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Germany
Programs: Miles & More, Amex
Posts: 678
Originally Posted by hartwith
Looking at the data and the lack of pilot effort to correct the dive, would it be wrong to assume this dive was pilot induced?
Not necessarily. Can be technical malfunction as well, just look for Boeing 737 rudder issues.
hurnik and SxMan like this.
Scrooge McDuck is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 7:30 am
  #10  
 
Join Date: Mar 2022
Posts: 2
Question Similar to Air France Flight 447?

Air France Flight 447 went into a similar descent and crashed in 2009 after failing speed sensors disengaged the auto pilot and activated "alternate law 2" mode.
The reason for the failing speed sensors was ice and hail.

Could it be some similar failure scenario and pilot errors?
minded is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 7:34 am
  #11  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 407
Originally Posted by hartwith
Looking at the data and the lack of pilot effort to correct the dive, would it be wrong to assume this dive was pilot induced?
It's certainly possible, but a substantial number of other causes could have easily led to that same outcome, including (but not limited to) a catastrophic event that disabled the hydraulics or other control systems.

UA 585 & US 427 were accidents also involving the 737 in which both aircraft suffered from servo valve failures that caused rudder issues, making both airplanes completely uncontrollable. Both crashed in vertical dives quite similar to this.
BearX220, nk15, hartwith and 2 others like this.
AADFW is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 7:50 am
  #12  
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,512
Originally Posted by hartwith
Looking at the data and the lack of pilot effort to correct the dive, would it be wrong to assume this dive was pilot induced?
"Lack of pilot effort to correct the dive" is supported by what?

LegalTender is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 7:57 am
  #13  
 
Join Date: Mar 2022
Posts: 2
Originally Posted by AADFW
It's certainly possible, but a substantial number of other causes could have easily led to that same outcome, including (but not limited to) a catastrophic event that disabled the hydraulics or other control systems.

UA 585 & US 427 were accidents also involving the 737 in which both aircraft suffered from servo valve failures that caused rudder issues, making both airplanes completely uncontrollable. Both crashed in vertical dives quite similar to this.
Interesting, did they also crash nose down?
minded is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 8:00 am
  #14  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,719
Originally Posted by hartwith
Looking at the data and the lack of pilot effort to correct the dive, would it be wrong to assume this dive was pilot induced?
Your assumption that there was a lack of pilot effort to correct the dive is entirely baseless. A crew-induced suicide dive is a possibility but certainly not the default working theory at this point. As others have said, 737s have a little prior history of this sort of fatal incident. Let's stow the speculation and await some data.
BearX220 is offline  
Old Mar 21, 2022, 8:08 am
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: UA MileagePlus (Premier Gold); Hilton HHonors (Gold); Chase Ultimate Rewards; Amex Plat
Posts: 6,679
Those videos look horrible. That's what I imagine happened to UA 93, with the plane aimed almost straight down.
STS-134 is online now  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.