A China Eastern Airlines plane crashed into mountains on March 21, killing 132 people, and flight data now indicates that the crash could have been an intentional act, people familiar with U.S. officials' assessments told the Wall Street Journal.
123 passengers and nine crew members died when the Boeing 737-800 jet unexpectedly went into a near-vertical descent into a mountainous region in Guangxi, China.
"The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit," the person told The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. officials also spoke to ABC News, and said that the plane's flaps were not engaged, nor was the landing gear properly put down before the crash occurred. The plane had reportedly dropped from 29,000 feet to 8,000, before leveling off and then freefalling to the ground.
Chinese officials said that the plane crash created a 66-foot deep hole in the ground. The Chinese authorities have not indicated that there were any mechanical or flight-control problems with the aircraft to have caused it to crash.
There have also not been any service bulletins from Boeing or air-safety regulators, which would let airlines and pilots know about any problems that occurred during the accident or things that needed to be fixed on the aircraft itself.
A black box containing the cockpit voice recorder was found on March 23, and the flight data recorder was recovered on March 27, per ABC News. The damaged black boxes are still being analyzed for information.
"In April, the trade publication Leeham News and Analysis reported that an initial readout of the China Eastern plane’s flight-data recorder suggested deliberate pilot inputs into the controls," according to The Wall Street Journal.
The airline has made it clear that they are not responsible for investigating the accident, and are waiting for an official announcement with any new information that comes from the black boxes.
"Any unofficial speculation may interfere with the accident investigation and affect the real progress of the global air transport industry," China Eastern Airlines said in a statement.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that all new information that will eventually be released will come from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
"The NTSB has assisted the Civil Aviation Administration of China with their investigation of the China Eastern 737 crash," the agency said in a statement. "The NTSB doesn't comment on investigations led by other authorities. All information related to that investigation will be released by the CAAC."
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