Image: Shadman Samee/CC BYSA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The preliminary investigation by China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) into last month’s Boeing 737800 crash has not yet found any indication of a possible cause of the crash, according to the summary of the preliminary report released by the agency on Wednesday, March 20. April.
On March 21, China Eastern Airlines plane B1791 was flying between Kunming and Guangzhou when it crashed in a mountainous area, claiming the lives of all 132 people on board 123 passengers and 9 crew members.
The two recorders, voice and flight data, or “black boxes,” have been recovered and are being analyzed in the United States by the company that made them in hopes of unraveling the mystery behind the jet’s rapid descent, but they were badly damaged.
The information was updated after 30 days had elapsed since the accident, thereby complying with the deadline in which the submission of a preliminary report is mandatory under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO or ICAO) regulations.
So, research to date has found that flight and cabin crew qualifications “meet requirements” and the same has been said of the maintenance team who worked with the aircraft in service prior to the accident.
“The aircraft’s certificate of airworthiness at the time of the accident was valid,” and there were no forecasts of hazardous weather conditions, the statement said.
There were no abnormal preflight communications on air traffic control frequency, nor was cargo on board declared as dangerous goods, the CAAC said, also noting any anomalies in navigational aids and flight monitoring equipment along the route.
The aircraft’s recorders “were severely damaged by the impact and data recovery and analysis work is ongoing,” the summary said.
The text also confirms that the trailing edge of the right winglet was found 12 kilometers (7.7 mi) from the site of impact, but provides no analysis as to whether it detached from the aircraft before the start of the descent or simply due to the aerodynamic efforts of the dive.
As the next steps of the investigation, “technicians will continue to conduct a thorough assessment, inspection and classification of the wreckage and analysis of flight data and necessary experimental verifications in accordance with relevant procedures.”
With information from the Civil Aviation Administration of China