Air traffic control attempted to reach China Eastern pilots prior to crash and officials find black box
The pilots of the China Eastern plane that crashed failed to respond to calls from air traffic controllers, according to the Chinese aviation regulator.
Air traffic controllers launched multiple attempts to reach the pilots of flight MU5735 after it turned into a nosedive position, but received no response, head of aviation safety at the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Zhu Tau said yesterday.
One of two black boxes from the China Eastern plane were found earlier today in a severely damaged condition. However, it is so damaged that officials are unsure as to whether it is the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft, carrying 132 people, crashed in a mountainous region of the Guangxi province and left no survivors.
“The investigative team will make all-out efforts to collect evidence, with a focus on searching for the aircraft’s flight recorder box,” Zhu added. “We will take into consideration all factors in analysing the cause of the accident.”
Villagers were first to arrive at the forested area where the plane went down on Monday, sparking a blaze big enough to be seen on Nasa satellite images.
China’s last fatal jet accident was in 2010, when 44 people were killed as a Henan Airlines Embraer E-190 jet crashed in low visibility.