NTSB Data Shows Manual Fuel Cutoff Before MU5735 Crash

Newly released data from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board indicates that fuel switches to both engines on China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 were manually moved to the cutoff position shortly before the Boeing 737-800 plunged nearly 29,000 feet into a mountain in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on March 21, 2022, killing all 132 people aboard.

The flight, en route from Kunming to Guangzhou with 123 passengers and nine crew members, was cruising at 29,000 feet when the switches shifted from the run to cutoff position, causing engine speeds to decrease, according to the NTSB analysis of the flight data recorder. Graphs from the recorder showed opposing movements on the pilots' control yokes, with one crew member attempting to recover the aircraft while another input forced it into a steep nosedive. The autopilot had been disengaged, and no distress call or emergency transponder code was issued. Ground video captured the jet descending almost vertically before impact near Tengxian County.

The NTSB decoded the black boxes after Chinese authorities recovered them and shared findings with investigators within weeks of the crash. The flight data recorder ceased...