This is heartbreaking.
The China Eastern flight was scheduled to fly from Kunming to Guangzhou on March 21, but crashed. There were 123 passengers and nine crew members on the flight.
The registration code for the China Eastern flight was B-1791. The 737 MAX 8 had two fatal crashes and ended up being grounded for two years, but the737-800 is different.
The plane was in the sky for just over an hour, and was cruising at 29,000 feet. The plane descended all the way to 9000 feet after entering a steep descent two minutes later.
Rescue efforts are underway. I don't think it's appropriate to post the videos of the crash scene and the plane's steep descent on social media at this time.
China Eastern is the second largest airline in China. The airline has a fleet of 600 jets, and most of its flights are from its hub in Shanghai. Delta owns a stake in the airline.
The airline currently has a fleet of roughly 150 Boeing planes. The airline has ordered 50 Boeing MAX 8 aircraft, which are the latest generation jets.
China Eastern has not had a fatal crash in nearly two decades. The last one was in November 2004, when China Eastern flight MU5210 crashed shortly after it left.
There were 132 people on the China Eastern Boeing plane that crashed today. As the plane was preparing to descend, we know that this happened, though details are limited. The plane went from 29,000 feet to nowhere in a few minutes.
My thoughts and prayers are with those onboard and their families. We often take aviation for granted. It is awful when we are reminded of how wrong things can be.
The image is courtesy of Shadman Samee.
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