China plane crash: Sabotage or accident? Another MH370 in making

A China Eastern Airlines' Boeing 737-800 crashed in the mountains of southern Guangxi on March 21 and is considered as one of the deadliest aviation disasters on the mainland China.

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A China Eastern Airlines' Boeing 737-800 crashed in the mountains of southern Guangxi on March 21, killing all 132 onboard, including 123 passengers and nine crew. The crash is considered to be one of the deadliest aviation disaster on the mainland China. The flight MU5735 took off from the southwestern city of Kunming for Guangzhou, and crashed in the mountains of Guangxi after a sudden plunge from cruising altitude. A report on Wall Street Journal now suggests that the crash could very well have been intentional. 

The report is based on the data gathered from one of the black boxes, indicating that someone in the cockpit intentionally crashed the plane, people familiar with the preliminary assessment of U.S. officials told the WSJ. Further, one source told Reuters that investigators were looking at whether the crash was a "voluntary" act. As per Reuters, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), which is leading the investigation, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

While deliberate crashes are exceptionally rare, there have been a few cases reported globally. In March 2015, a Germanwings co-pilot deliberately flew an Airbus A320 into a French mountainside, killing all 150 on board. The investigators found that the 27-year-old was suffering from a suspected "psychotic depressive episode," concealed from his employer. 

But the most famous and inconclusive event has to be the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines' MH370. In the rarest of the rare event, a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China disappeared on March 8, 2014, never to be found again. The plane carrying 239 passengers and crew lost contact with the ATC and is estimated to have been crashed in the Indian Ocean near Australia, way off the course its scheduled plan. 

Multiple investigations, some state sponsored, some privately funded failed to determine the location of the crash, even though debris were found some time later. Multiple theories suggest that the flight was intentionally crashed by the captain of the plane, although Malaysian authorities have always denied the claims. 

While correlating MH370 and MU5735 crashes is a far fetched idea, one can't neglect the possible angle of sabotage. Here's a few findings that ignite the possibilities of the intentional crash of the plane:

- Investigators looking into the crash jet are examining the actions of the crew on the flight deck and have found no evidence of a technical malfunction

- The pilots did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers and nearby planes during the rapid descent, authorities have said

- Boeing has said in a statement that no evidence had emerged that could determine if there were any problems with the aircraft

The Boeing 737-800 is one of the best selling aircrafts globally and a predecessor to Boeing 737 MAX, that was involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. But unlike the Max, tha was grounded for two years, the China Eastern resumed 737-800 flights just a month later to the crash, a decision seen as ruling out any potential safety concerns over Boeing's most widely used model.

Reuters report says that China is downplaying the act of sabotage, just like the Malaysian Airlines incidence, stating that the screenshots of the Wall Street Journal story appeared to have been censored both on China's Weibo social media platform and the Wechat messaging app. The hashtag topics "China Eastern" and "China Eastern black boxes" are banned on Weibo.

In an April 11 response to internet rumours of a deliberate crash, the CAAC said the speculation had "gravely misled the public" and "interfered with the accident investigation work".

A final report into the causes of the crash could take two years or more to compile, Chinese officials have said. Analysts blame most crashes on a cocktail of human and technical factors. However, if the act of sabotage is determined, airlines and authorities will have a big task on hand to assert confidence in flyers again. 

Witth Reuters inputs