Chinese authorities allegedly covered up that a suicidal pilot deliberately brought down a plane that killed all 132 people onboard, US officials have claimed. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) appeared to have confirmed suspicions that China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 crashed into mountains in Guangxi province due to the deliberate actions of the pilot. Beijing officials are alleged to have suppressed information about the Boeing 737 crash in March 2022.
Details of the Crash
The plane's engines were manually shut off and the autopilot disengaged, causing the aircraft to nosedive toward the mountains. Flight recorder data showed two pilots fighting over controls as the plane continued to fall. "It was found that while cruising at 29,000ft, the fuel switches on both engines moved from the run position to the cut-off position," the NTSB said. "Engine speeds decreased after the fuel switch movement."
The US agency showed the opposing movements on the pilot's controls, indicating that one crew member attempted to recover the aircraft while another forced it to continue diving. The crew made no distress call during the incident, and no emergency transponder code was transmitted before the crash.
Political Sensitivity
The aviation disaster became one of the more politically sensitive cases in China's recent history. Beijing has since been accused of covering up the disaster despite mounting pressure for greater transparency. Claims of pilot error emerged shortly after the crash, with a US investigator telling the Wall Street Journal that "the plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit." The report that later emerged was scrubbed from Chinese social media.
The pilots on the flight deck at the time of the crash were Captain Yang Hongda, 32, first officer Zhang Zhengping, 59, and trainee second officer Ni Gongtai, 27. Speculation focused on Zhang, one of the major airline's senior pilots. He reportedly recently lost his rank of captain, and no official conclusion identifying responsibility has been published.
Context of Pilot Suicide
The crash is one of several incidents suspected to have been caused by pilot suicide. In 2015, co-pilot Andreas Lubitz is understood to have deliberately flown an Airbus into the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard. There has also been speculation that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared in 2015, was caused by intentional pilot error. All 239 people on board that flight are presumed dead.
