Fatal nosedive by China Eastern Boeing 787-800 passenger jet baffles crash specialists
The China Eastern Airlines Corp. jet was flying a normal route to Guangzhou when it suddenly nosed over, at cruise altitude, and dove.
That’s about all that is known for certain about the unusual crash that killed all 132 people aboard the aircraft Monday in China’s worst aviation accident in more than a decade.
While there have been a handful of crashes in which an airliner plunged from cruising altitude, few, if any, fit the extreme profile of the Boeing Co. 737-800 as it pointed steeply toward the ground, according to veteran crash investigators and previous accident reports.
“It’s an odd profile,” said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant and former 737 pilot. “It’s hard to get the airplane to do this.”
As investigators search for the plane’s two crash-proof recorders and begin ...