A Boeing 737-800 that plunged vertically into a mountain range in China earlier this year was intentionally crashed by someone in the cockpit, U.S. officials say.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that flight data from the plane’s black box “indicates someone in the cockpit intentionally crashed” the China Eastern Airlines plane back in May.
A person familiar with the assessment from U.S. officials said that “the plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit.”
The assessment from U.S. officials also relies on the fact that Chinese authorities have not indicated that there were any mechanical or technical issues with the plane that could have contributed to the crash.
“Neither Boeing Co. nor air-safety regulators have been working on any service bulletins or safety directives stemming from the crash,” the report added. “Such messages would be used if authorities believed there was a need to alert airlines and pilots to problems the flight crew encountered in the accident or detail needed fixes to the aircraft.”
While officials have turned their focus to the actions of the pilots, the report cautioned that officials have left open the possibility that someone broke into the cockpit and crashed the plane.
The plane had been cruising at just over 29,000 feet on March 21st when it then plunged more than 20,000 feet in under a minute before later slamming into the ground. All 132 people on board the flight were killed in the crash.
The report did not give any indication as to whether investigators were looking at the incident as potential act of terrorism or a suicidal individual.
The South China Morning Post, which is owned by the Chinese Alibaba Group, reported back in March that the flight data “depicted a battle for control of China Eastern Airlines flight” as the plane had temporarily recovered altitude followed by a second nosedive that took the plane straight into the ground.
This is an excerpt from The Daily Wire.
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