China Eastern Flight MU5735 Fuel Cut-Off Confirmed by US Board, 132 Dead
A Boeing 737 that crashed into a Chinese hillside in 2022, resulting in 132 fatalities, had its fuel supply severed mid-flight, according to recently disclosed data from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Findings from the NTSB reveal that the fuel switches for both engines of the China Eastern flight were moved to the "cut-off" position while the aircraft was at a cruising altitude of 8,839m (29,000ft). This detail lends credence to the theory that the crash was intentional, marking China's most severe air disaster in decades. The precise cause of the incident has remained officially undisclosed by Chinese authorities.
China has yet to publish a comprehensive final report on the incident, citing national security concerns. The NTSB report, made public through the Freedom of Information Act, noted that the MU5735's engine speeds "decreased after the fuel switch movement." Fuel switches are critical controls used by pilots to manage fuel flow to the engines, enabling them to initiate or terminate engine operation.
The information was extracted from one of the aircraft's "black boxes," recovered from the wreckage and subsequently analysed at the NTSB's laboratory in Washington DC. The jetliner had departed from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, in March 2022, en route to Guangzhou. After more than an hour in the air, nearing its destination, the plane suddenly plummeted from its cruising height. Flight tracker data illustrates a descent of thousands of metres in under three minutes.
Air traffic controllers repeatedly attempted to contact the aircraft during its rapid descent but received no response. While the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAA) confirmed that the crew possessed valid licences, were adequately rested, and passed health checks on the day of the flight, they have also issued denials regarding pilot suicide speculation. A CAA official, Wu Shijie, stated in April 2022 that such "rumours…have seriously misled the public and interfered with the investigation of the accident."
China has faced criticism for the delay in releasing a conclusive report, with the CAA cautioning that any "disclosure [about the crash] may, if released, endanger national security and social stability." Given that the Boeing 737 was designed and manufactured in the US, the NTSB appointed a senior air safety investigator to support the CAA-led inquiry.
