Boeing 737 nose dives into ground, Air crash in China

ATS

just seen this on youtube on the telegraph.
The video captures the moment a Boeing 737 nose dives into the mountainside and wreck and fire in the forest in the video

A China Eastern Airlines passenger plane carrying 132 people crashed Monday in a mountainous region in south China, according to the country’s civil aviation agency. The number of casualties was not immediately clear, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Emergency responders were en route. The People's Daily quoted a provincial firefighting department official as saying there was no sign of life among the scattered debris.

Such a tragic air crash, cant think of the people on that plane and what that experience must have been like
pretty grim, my thoughts are with their family.



My Question to the ATS crowd with Aeronautical knowledge, what could cause a 737 to nose dive like that and at that nose directly down angle , would the plane need to be completely inoperable for that to happen? Controls completely shot or locked out or something.

Surely the pilots even under a malfunction still have some control of the aircraft in a gliding sense ?

Thanks

a reply to: sapien82

A few years ago, there was that software problem causing 737s to nose dive and the pilots could not override it. I had read somewhere that the lawsuits over that problem have uncovered that a different software problem had caused 737s to nosedive during the early 90s.

originally posted by: sapien82
My Question to the ATS crowd with Aeronautical knowledge, what could cause a 737 to nose dive like that and at that nose directly down angle

I don't need aeronautic knowledge to suggest Pilot Suicide or Sabbotage do I ?

If there were no comms to ground it would be mighty suspicious.

I Wonder if there was anyone really important onboard.

I don't recall ever seeing videos of a plane crashing in this manner. Hopefully, one of our knowledgeable plane enthusiasts will be along with some insight.

originally posted by: tamusan
a reply to: sapien82

A few years ago, there was that software problem causing 737s to nose dive and the pilots could not override it. I had read somewhere that the lawsuits over that problem have uncovered that a different software problem had caused 737s to nosedive during the early 90s.

I think that was a different model. Someone more knowledgeable should be along soon. (737 Max??? possibly?).

Looked pretty bad whatever it was.

a reply to: tamusan

sheesh thats pretty shocking, although not the first time i've heard of faulty machine parts or bad code causing problems which result in death.
Do you remember the helicopter crash in Glasgow city centre not too long ago , well the manufacturer of that helicopter apparently was reported to have made bad rotor gear or some critical gear part and it failed in a number of the same model of helicopter as evidence with the helicopters of same type in the north sea oilfields, my friend who works offshore used those helicopters every time he flew out to the rigs and always had anxiety about his flights because of the reports he'd read on them.

bad parts due to bad workmanship or just bad parts due to cost cutting or both. As there is no way its coincidence when the same parts fail on multiple flights.

If its the case of the program error and its the same code from the 90's then boeing have a lot to answer for.

a reply to: nerbot

No not at all,

yeh its quite odd I have to admit id never heard of the program error that tamusan suggested so thats news to me.
If it was pilot suicide would it have been both of them? which is also very strange. Sabbotage could be likley given the way the world is right now.

Yeh comms would probably explain a lot as to what happened I guess we will need to wait until they can release more information.

I also thought that as well, it was my first thought , which is pretty #ed up as it is, immediately thinking of who or what was on that plane , rather than the fact that we just lost another plane full of people , but at this point this is what we have to deal with.
I do feel bad that it was my first thought but it did look odd and that just got my brain going.
Those poor people though wish they were still here to to talk # like me online

a reply to: nugget1

yeh nugget neither have I , we have seen plenty plane crashes on tv though and Ive never seen it happen like that.
However as tamusan said it happened in the 90's although I was just 10 in 1990 I dont remember it on the tv
I was really into planes when I was that age as well

a reply to: Tulpa

The ones from a few years ago were the max, yeah.

a reply to: Tulpa


I just checked and the plane that just nosedived in China is a 737-800 which is the Max.

originally posted by: tamusan
a reply to: Tulpa

The ones from a few years ago were the max, yeah.

Wasn't it something to do with the autopilot and over compensation?
Memory a bit hazy but weren't the pilots doing the opposite corrective measures to the ones they should have tried because of that problem?

Hoping one the the aircraft brains on here chimes in because haven't seen much news today.

a reply to: sapien82

It was a different software problem for the 737s in the 90s from the software problem they had a few years ago. I just checked and the one that just nosedived in China was 737-800. That's the same model that was having the software problems a few years ago. Boeing said they had fixed it.

a reply to: Tulpa

The 2018-2019 problem for the Max was a faulty angle-of-attack-censor feeding bad information to an automated system controlling the aircraft that the pilots couldn't override.

a reply to: tamusan

That was the Max, this is a 737-800. This is an older version that doesn’t have MCAS.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I thought that the 737-800 was the max. Thanks for clarifying it.

a reply to: tamusan

The 737-8 is the Max. The 737-800 is part of the NG family and has an outstanding safety record, even for the 737.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I see now. Thanks for setting me straight.

a reply to: Zaphod58

so would it be safe to say we can rule out the computer code being the fault, as it pertains to a different aircraft family ?

Zaphod what are your thoughts on this accident, what can cause the jet to dive like this without the pilots correcting it or the plane doing it itself?

thanks

a reply to: sapien82

From the perspective of something like we saw a couple years ago with MCAS, yes. Computer failure could have played an indirect role however.

The biggest causes I can see, and I’m not speculating yet, are flight control failure, pilot error, and pilot suicide.

a reply to: sapien82

My Question to the ATS crowd with Aeronautical knowledge, what could cause a 737 to nose dive like that

Maybe the pilot had a vaccine heart attack, collapsed on the controls sending the plane into a nosedive that the co=-pilot couldn't correct after pulling the pilot off the controls. ...Or not? I wonder if they'll release the black box info.