for a plane like East ChinaOne aviation analyst who cited the aircraft’s excellent safety record said the Boeing 737-800’s mid-flight crash was “simply unprecedented”.
“Air travel is the safest form of transportation. But when we have accidents or accidents, we don’t see anything like what we’ve seen in China in the past 24 hours,” Alex Machiasras, an independent aviation analyst, told CNBC. Capital Connection” on Tuesday.
He added, “This sudden drop was simply unprecedented, particularly from cruising altitude. We are talking about the safest phases of flight. That is why these answers will be needed as soon as possible to identify it.”
No bodies or survivors were found as of Tuesday morning. Chinese state media said.
The local plane was carrying 132 passengers when it landed on Monday afternoon in the southern Guangxi region.
The plane was flying at 29,100 feet and began a steep descent after 2:20 p.m., briefly recovering more than 1,000 feet – then continuing to dive again before losing contact. He fell over 25,000 feet in about two minutes.
The 737-800 that crashed in China on Monday flew for the first time in June 2015. The Boeing 737 Max, which has been grounded worldwide after two fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019. China was one of the first countries to ground the 737 Max. After the second two fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019.
aircraft safety record
“The aircraft in question was six years old, so it is a very small 737-800, and it has an excellent safety record worldwide,” Machiasras said.
He added, “We are talking about an aircraft that makes up the entire fleet of the European low-cost airline Ryanair. It is an aircraft that works with American Airlines, Qantas, flydubai, Ethiopian, KLM.” In very difficult conditions.
According to travel analytics firm Cirium, there are more than 4,200 Boeing 737-800s in service worldwide and 1,177 of them are in China Airlines fleets.
Chinese President Xi Jinping I ordered the investigation and rescue teams to locate the accident in the rural mountainous area.
Sheila Kahyaoglu, aerospace and defense analyst at Jefferies, said the aircraft’s safety record makes it highly likely that something unusual could happen during the flight.
“Given the safety record of this aircraft, and the fact that it has had only nine fatal accidents in 25 years, I highly suspect it’s a manufacturer problem,” she told CNBC on Tuesday.
“It’s obviously too early to think about that, or to come to that conclusion,” she acknowledged, noting that “something abnormal had happened” because the plane had a good safety record so far.
Search for “black box”
Since the plane was American-made, the US National Transportation Safety Board said it had appointed an accident investigator.
Investigators will work to recover the so-called black boxes containing cockpit audio recordings and flight data. They will also likely check the aircraft’s previous flights, maintenance history, weather data, and the pilot’s health.
It is the black box that will eventually push the investigators in the right direction, Machiras said, in this search for answers.
“As the nature of the crash remains completely unknown, what role the aircraft was playing will be a question for many regulators. [minds] Worldwide, he said, “there is always that risk and that is why investigators will want to rule out everything they can. But as we say, the black box is what will have the most impact.”
– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng and Leslie Joseph contributed to this report.
