Fuel Supply Switched Off To Both Engines Before Deadly China Eastern Plane Crash, NTSB Report Says

WASHINGTON/SHANGHAI, May 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board this week released data showing that the fuel supply was shut off to both engines before a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 jet plunged into a hillside in southern China in March 2022, killing all 132 people on board.

The NTSB said Wednesday that its investigation into China’s deadliest air disaster in three decades did not turn up any safety issues. Fuel switches on Boeing 737 aircraft are physical controls that regulate the flow of fuel to the engines, and the pilot must pull the switch up before switching from start to cutoff.

Its publication is the first significant investigative update on the fatal incident. accident.

China’s aviation regulator in March chose not to publish for the second year An annual update on the investigation accidentletting the fourth anniversary pass without any insight into the case.

Data released by the NTSB in response to a Freedom of Information request. aeroplaneflight data recorder. It showed that the fuel switches for both engines moved from the operating position to the cutoff position simultaneously before the jet descended.

Reuters reported in 2022 that investigators focused on the actions of the flight crew and found no evidence of technical malfunctions.

“While cruising at an altitude of 29,000 feet, it was determined that the fuel switches on both engines moved from the operating position to the cut-off position. It was determined that the engine speeds decreased after the fuel switch movement,” the NTSB report said.

accident Boeing 737-800 operated as China East flight MU5735 China’s deadliest air disaster over decades.

Willful accidentThese are extremely rare. In March 2015, a Germanwings co-pilot deliberately flew an Airbus A320 into a mountainside in France, killing all 150 people on board.

Captain’s actions in June accident The incident of the Air India Boeing 787, which killed 260 people in Ahmedabad, India, is being investigated.

In the preliminary investigation report prepared by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), aeroplane‘s fuel engine switches went from start to cutoff almost simultaneously immediately after takeoff.

A source briefed on US officials’ initial assessment of the evidence in July told Reuters that a cockpit recording of a dialogue between the two pilots supported the view that Captain Sabharwal had cut off the flow of fuel to the engines.

Chinese regulators have not released a full report detailing the investigation’s findings. accident and they provided no updates on the investigation in more than two years.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and China Eastern Airlines did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the report, and a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry declined to answer a question about the U.S. findings at a regular news conference on Wednesday.

The flight data recorder is one of two black boxes recovered from the wreckage. Since Boeing is an American aircraft manufacturer, it was sent to the NTSB laboratory in Washington for analysis.

(Reporting by Casey Hall and David Shepardson; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and David Gregorio)