US report China Eastern jet fuel supply was off ahead of deadly 2022 crash
By David Shepardson and Casey Hall
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 up on the switch before moving it from start to cutoff.
Its publication is the first significant investigative update into the fatal crash.
In March, China’s aviation regulator opted not to issue an annual update on its investigation into the crash for the second year running, allowing the fourth anniversary to pass without any information on the cause.
The data released by the NTSB in response to a Freedom of Information request originated from the aircraft’s flight data recorder. It showed that the fuel switches for both engines moved simultaneously from the operating position to the cutoff position 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.
In the NTSB report, “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 observed that the engine speeds decreased after the fuel switch movement.”
The crash of Boeing 737-800 operated as China East flight MU5735 was China’s deadliest air disaster in decades.
Intentional accidents 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.
The actions of the captain in the crash of the Air India Boeing 787 plane, which killed 260 people in Ahmedabad, India in June, are being examined.
A preliminary investigation report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) showed that the plane’s fuel engine switches switched from start to cutoff almost simultaneously immediately after takeoff.
A cockpit recording of a dialogue between the two pilots supports the view that Captain Sabharwal cut off the flow of fuel to the engines, a source briefed on US officials’ initial assessment of the evidence in July told Reuters.
Chinese regulators have not released a full report detailing the findings of the investigation into the crash and have 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)
