Image Source: BBC
Flight data suggests that the jet that crashed in March was deliberately sent into a nosedive, according to US media reports.
Investigators have not detected any mechanical or technical faults with the plane, according to sources indicating an early examination by US officials.
The plane was flying between Kunming and Guangzhou in southern China when it crashed.
All 132 passengers and crew members on board died in the plane crash.
“The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the pilot,” a source familiar with US officials’ first assessment of the incident said.
Data recovered from one of the plane’s “black box” flight recorders revealed that inputs to the controls forced the plane into a near-vertical plunge, according to the report.
According to ABC News, US investigators believe the disaster was caused by a purposeful act.
Investigators are looking into whether the crash was caused by deliberate action on the flight deck, according to Reuters, which cited two people briefed on the case. There is no proof of a mechanical fault.
According to China Eastern Airlines, the three pilots on board were certified and in good health.
No pilots looked to be in financial peril, the airline told the Wall Street Journal separately.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A BBC request for comment was not immediately returned by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC), which is investigating the event.
Last month, the CAAC alleged that suggestions that the plane was deliberately crashed “gravely misled the public” and “hampered accident investigation operations.”
Investigators are currently studying flight data and wreckage from the event, according to the Global Times, a Chinese state-run news outlet.
According to the statement, the CAAC would “carry out the accident inquiry in a scientific, rigorous, and methodical manner.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and jet maker Boeing all declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal’s accusation due to constraints imposed by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization.
“Under the laws concerning crash investigations… only the investigating agency can comment on an open air accident inquiry,” a Boeing official told the BBC on Wednesday. The company previously indicated that it was working with Chinese investigators and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Because the last major tragedy occurred 12 years ago, Chinese airlines have an excellent safety record.
When the plane crashed, it was less than seven years old and operated by China Eastern Airlines.
