A Boeing 737-800 passenger aircraft belonging to China Eastern Airlines crashed in a mountainous area in southern China over four years ago. The latest data released by the United States indicates the possibility of deliberate human intervention in the cockpit. Epoch Times was the first to report on this revelation, triggering other media outlets to focus on this development.
CNN’s report titled “Flight data reinforces claims of deliberate crash of China Eastern Airlines plane in 2022.” The Times from the UK’s headline reads, “Beijing Covered up the Truth: Pilots Deliberately Crashed Plane into Mountain, Resulting in 132 Deaths.” The Sun in the US’s headline states, “US investigation shows China knew four years ago that the pilot deliberately flew the Boeing 737 plane at 350 mph into a mountain, causing 132 deaths.”
On March 21, 2022, Flight 5735 of China Eastern Airlines lost contact with air traffic control over the skies of Wuzhou City in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region while flying from Kunming Changshui International Airport to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Ground video footage showed the Boeing aircraft plummeting vertically.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft crashed in a remote area of Guangxi, resulting in the tragic death of all 132 people on board, including 123 passengers and 9 crew members.
This is one of the worst air disasters in China’s recent history. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) led the investigation into the incident, but has refused to release the final report.
In 2022, at China’s request, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the United States decoded the flight data recorder of Flight 5735 that crashed, and two weeks after the recorder was found in 2022, transmitted its data to China. However, the Chinese authorities never made this information public.
Four years later, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) application received earlier in 2026 from a Chinese citizen, partial investigation results concerning the flight data recorder (FDR) of Flight 5735 appeared on the internet last week.
The FOIA applies to any individual or organization, regardless of whether they are US citizens.
AeroTime, an aviation news website, reported with the headline “China Eastern 737 Crash: NTSB Data Shows Deliberate Action Inside Cockpit.”
AeroTime’s interpretation stated that according to the NTSB report, while the aircraft was flying at a cruising altitude of 29,000 feet (approximately 8,800 meters), someone manually switched the fuel switches of both engines from the operating position to the cut-off position, resulting in an immediate drop in engine speed.
It was reported that the fuel switches of this Boeing 737 narrow-body aircraft are physical controls that regulate the engine’s fuel flow. Pilots must physically pull up the switches before transitioning the throttle from the operating to the cut-off state.
“Both switches were closed almost simultaneously. And for this type of aircraft, it is possible to operate both switches simultaneously even with one hand,” AeroTime explained.
David Soucie, a CNN aviation safety analyst, mentioned that the failure to switch the fuel switches back to the operating position indicates that the pilots did not attempt to restart the engines.
He said, “If the switches were mistakenly shut off, the pilots would attempt to reopen them.”
AeroTime further stated that following the fuel cut-off, the autopilot disengaged almost immediately. Subsequently, someone forcefully pulled the control column to the left and pushed it forward, causing the aircraft to enter a roll and a steep dive.
The Times added that the charts showing control inputs and aircraft movement indicate that while one pilot’s control column was causing the aircraft to spiral steeply downward, another pilot was attempting to prevent the descent. The control column directions of the two pilots were opposite, controlling the aircraft’s left or right roll through the ailerons at the wing’s edge.
Tony Stanton, an aviation expert from the Australian consultancy Strategic Air, told CNN that although the materials publicly released by the NTSB do not explain the motive, intent, or the identity of the person who switched the fuel off, the sequence of events “hardly fits the traditional explanation of twin-engine mechanical failure and is more in line with [deliberate] order to cut off the fuel.”
One Mile at a Time, a platform focusing on in-depth travel news and reviews, states that the First Officer of Flight 5735 remains the prime suspect.
The Chairman of China Eastern Yunnan Company, Sun Shiying, once disclosed that the flight hours of the captain, the first officer, and the observer of Flight 5735 were 6,709 hours, over 31,769 hours, and 556 hours respectively.
The article mentions that typically, if a pilot intentionally crashes a plane, there are often many clues afterwards. Despite the Chinese authorities’ refusal to disclose extensive information, some widely circulated information appears authentic.
For instance, the 32-year-old captain with 6,700 hours of flight experience who had just become a father, had a very successful career path.
The 59-year-old first officer with an impressive over 30,000 hours of flight experience — equivalent to the flying time of many pilots throughout their entire careers — had reportedly been demoted from captaincy and had experienced issues during some simulator flights.
The Chinese authorities have consistently declined to reveal specific details of the personnel inside the cockpit when the engines were shut down. The crash occurred shortly before the aircraft began its descent, a time when pilots normally take bathroom breaks during the flight.
“I think this is enough to explain the truth behind the accident,” the article stated. “This clearly indicates that Beijing believes admitting that the pilots intentionally crashed the plane would ‘endanger its national security and social stability’. It can only be said that all passengers and crew were very unfortunate.”
Experienced pilot Gao Fei assured Epoch Times that by combining the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder data, all activities inside the cockpit of China Eastern Flight 5735 before the incident could be reconstructed.
However, this might never be obtained as the evidence has been handed over to the Chinese authorities.
When the aircraft’s generator lost power, the flight data recorder stopped recording at an altitude of 26,000 feet. The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) continued recording on backup batteries until the impact.
US investigators were able to recover four audio files from the damaged recorders, and sent them to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, but NTSB stated that they did not retain copies.
When asked why the final report has not been released yet, the Civil Aviation Administration of China stated that “disclosure may endanger national security and social stability.” The agency had previously denied that the crash was caused by human action.
A Western netizen commented on the social media platform Reddit, criticizing the foolishness of the official Chinese actions and statements. “Because it is actually irrelevant to national security – when has [releasing flight accident reports] ever been related to national security? And this would undermine the credibility of the state in defending national security when it is truly needed.”
Another netizen added, “They can’t let people know that pilots would do such a thing, just like they can’t let people know that the government is doing something illegal, it’s the same principle.”