China Eastern Flight MU5735 down

[snotrag]

A 737NG, seem to have been something dramatic as it dropped like a stone according to the ADSB data.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-608197...


It's not on AVHerald yet but as ever, thst will be the best source of info. Big shame.

[gotoPzero]

Not an old aircraft either, only 6-7 years old.

Went down in around 2 minutes from 29000 ft.

[Muddle238]

Just saw the headline on the BBC.

Aircraft was an -800 so not a MAX, which was my first thought/question when I read 737.

[TopTrump]

Muddle238 said:

Just saw the headline on the BBC.

Aircraft was an -800 so not a MAX, which was my first thought/question when I read 737.

Yep that was my first instinct too. Not good regardless.

[Scabutz]

On the DailyMail there is CCTV footage of it nose diving to the ground.

It's grainy and hard to tell but looks largely intact. What the hell could have happened to make it do that? Complete loss of thrust and stall?

[Traffic]

Nobody is getting out of that one alive if the video mentioned above is genuine, very sad.

It seems to be heading nose first and I noticed a puff of black smoke whilst it was falling

[nigelpugh7]

Scabutz said:

On the DailyMail there is CCTV footage of it nose diving to the ground.

It's grainy and hard to tell but looks largely intact. What the hell could have happened to make it do that? Complete loss of thrust and stall?

Even if it’s stalled , and lost both engines I doubt it would be diving vertically like that, it would seem to imply a complete loss of the control surfaces.

Very odd, and of course very tragic too.

[Eric Mc]

A bit early to be speculating but there were a number of 737-300/400 accidents back in the early 1990s caused by the rudders, uncommanded, going to full lock causing the plane to roll over and then nose dive.

[nigelpugh7]

Eric Mc said:

A bit early to be speculating but there were a number of 737-300/400 accidents back in the early 1990s caused by the rudders, uncommanded, going to full lock causing the plane to roll over and then nose dive.

Yes I was going to mention the rudder hard over issues too, thanks for adding that detail.

[poo at Paul's]

Sounds like loss of control from the tail. Sad for the souls on board and their families.

[bitchstewie]

Just saw the video on the Daily Mail and I didn't even appreciate large airplanes could go vertically like that

Awful.

[anonymous-user]

bhstewie said:

Just saw the video on the Daily Mail and I didn't even appreciate large airplanes could go vertically like that

Awful.

I’d never given that much thought to it before today. That video is grim.

[dvs_dave]

Looks like a totally normal flight profile, and was in a level and stable cruise right up until something sudden and catastrophic happened, causing a near vertical dive from cruise altitude right into the ground. Terrifying. RIP.

Structural failure, midair collision? Time will tell…

[gotoPzero]

bhstewie said:

Just saw the video on the Daily Mail and I didn't even appreciate large airplanes could go vertically like that

Awful.

It has happened on more than one occasion, the forces involved can be incredible and there have been cases of pax aircraft going supersonic on the way down.

Have a look at Alaska airlines flight 261.... horrifying stuff flew upside down for a considerable distance and capt tried to push the nose up in the dive (only thing that worked). The CVR is on youtube - chilling.

[Scabutz]

gotoPzero said:

bhstewie said:

Just saw the video on the Daily Mail and I didn't even appreciate large airplanes could go vertically like that

Awful.

It has happened on more than one occasion, the forces involved can be incredible and there have been cases of pax aircraft going supersonic on the way down.

Have a look at Alaska airlines flight 261.... horrifying stuff flew upside down for a considerable distance and capt tried to push the nose up in the dive (only thing that worked). The CVR is on youtube - chilling.

There was a re-doing of the Air Crash Investigation in the latest series of that flight. It was on back in Jan I think. Can be downloaded

[Eric Mc]

Different type of aeroplane and that was due to an all moving tailplane jack screw failure.

The 737-300/400 has had a few accidents in the past caused by a problem with the rudder actuator.

[Monsterlime]

A friend mentioned this had happened, and he has seen (I have not and have no wish to) a video from allegedly inside the plane from a passenger phone as it went down, which I'll assume auto uploaded or was sent live as it happened. Horrendous for all involved.

[Scabutz]

Monsterlime said:

A friend mentioned this had happened, and he has seen (I have not and have no wish to) a video from allegedly inside the plane from a passenger phone as it went down, which I'll assume auto uploaded or was sent live as it happened. Horrendous for all involved.

There is one circling which is a massive fake. It looks to be from a flight sim and has an Ethiopian Airlines logo on the wing tip.

[Jim H]

I saw on Sky News before, what appeared drone footage of the crash site of this jet.

Early to say, but it appears to confirm the other circulated video footage of this disaster, and the flight radar info.

It showed a very small localised hole in the ground, surrounded by fragmented debris.
.

Like it went straight in fast.

It must have been terrifying for the passengers , let’s hope the shock, ‘G’ got them fairly quick. As others have mentioned, the Alaska flight and tragedy was drawn out on for a fair bit of time - due to the pilots doing their utmost best in a hopeless situation.

As Eric has already mentioned, very similar to the Rudder ‘hard-over’ incidents that have affected the 737 before.

Early days though. Let’s hope the investigation moves quick - there are a lot of 737 flying.

I doubt their will be many clues from the wreckage. Hopefully the CVR an data recorder are usable and retrieved rapidly.

[Gaines178]

It’s -

A) Suicide
B) Cockpit incursion
C) Something major structurally

With no engines and even limited flight controls that flight plan wouldn’t happen. Hopefully they can get hold of the ‘black boxes’ asap and work out what happened. RIP for all onboard - must have been awful.