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The China Eastern Airlines Corp. jet was performing a routine route to Guangzhou when it unexpectedly nosed over at cruise altitude and dived.
That is about all that is known for definite about the strange crash that killed all 132 persons aboard the aeroplane on Monday in China’s deadliest commercial aviation catastrophe in more than a decade.
While there have been a few disasters in which an airliner plummeted from cruising altitude, few, if any, fit the severe profile of the Boeing Co. 737-800 as it pointed downward toward the ground, according to veteran crash investigators and past accident reports.
“It’s an unusual profile,” said John Cox, a former 737 pilot and aviation safety expert. “It’s difficult to get the plane to do this.”
Investigators will try to understand why the flight made such an abrupt and violent plunge, which sets it apart from other mishaps, while they seek for the plane’s two crash-proof recorders and begin sifting over clues.
They will look at the weather the plane experienced, whether the pilots made any distress calls, any clues of possible problems in the wreckage, and detailed profiles of the crew.