In China, a China Eastern Airlines passenger plane carrying 132 people crashed in the southwest of the country in March. One of China’s most experienced aviators was among the three pilots in the cockpit.
Air traffic controllers made calls that went unanswered. The pilots did not send an emergency message. The plane dropped from 20,000 feet to 7,400 feet in less than a minute. Then, for the last time, it gained an altitude of 1,200 feet in about 15 seconds before falling into the wooded area covered with bamboo groves and banana trees. However, this last move could not prevent the plane from crashing.
According to the shared images, the plane was almost exactly vertical before it crashed, and two wingtip fragments fell seven miles away.
Investigators, including a seven-man crew from the United States who arrived on Saturday, struggled to understand what happened in the final minutes before the plane killed all 132 people.
According to initial assessments by U.S. officials, the plane was deliberately shot down.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the examination of the black boxes of the plane by the US teams revealed that the pilot or a person on the plane caused the plane to crash. “They did what someone in the cockpit wanted,” an unnamed official told the newspaper.
Officials are also assessing that one of the passengers on the plane may have entered the cockpit and shot down the plane.
A thorough explanation is expected after the completion of the investigations.
