China crash is ‘extraordinary’ given Boeing 737’s stellar protection document, says aviation analyst

For an airplane like China Jap’s Boeing 737-800 to crash in midflight is “merely extraordinary,” mentioned one aviation analyst who cited the aircraft’s superb protection document.

“Air shuttle is the most secure type of shipping. But if we do undergo incidents or injuries, we do not see the rest like what we have now noticed in China over the past 24 hours,” Alex Macheras, an unbiased aviation analyst, informed CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Tuesday. 

“This nosedive used to be merely extraordinary, particularly from cruising altitude. We are speaking in regards to the most secure section of the flight. That is why the ones solutions are going to be wanted once imaginable to resolve,” he added.

No our bodies or survivors have not begun been discovered from the crash as of Tuesday morning, Chinese language state media mentioned.

The home flight used to be wearing 132 other folks when it nosedived Monday afternoon within the southern area of Guangxi.

The aircraft used to be cruising at 29,100 toes and started a pointy descent after 2:20 p.m., getting better greater than 1,000 toes in brief — then proceeding to dive once more prior to it misplaced touch. It fell greater than 25,000 toes in about two mins.

The 737-800 that crashed Monday in China first flew in June 2015. It used to be now not a Boeing 737 Max, the aircraft that used to be grounded international after two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019. China used to be one of the vital first nations to floor the 737 Max after the second one of 2 deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019. 

Plane’s protection document

“The airplane concerned used to be a six-year-old, so an overly younger 737-800, which has a stellar protection document in all places the globe,” mentioned Macheras.

“We’re speaking about an airplane that makes up all of the fleet of Ecu low price airline Ryanair. An airline airplane this is in provider with American Airways, Qantas, FlyDubai, Ethiopian, KLM,” he added, pronouncing the aircraft is used to acting in very tricky stipulations.

In step with shuttle analytics company Cirium, there are greater than 4,200 Boeing 737-800s in provider international and 1,177 of them are in Chinese language airways’ fleets.

Chinese language President Xi Jinping has ordered an investigation and rescue groups to the positioning of the crash within the rural, mountainous area.

Sheila Kahyaoglu, aerospace and protection analyst at Jefferies, mentioned the security document of the airplane makes it extremely possible one thing ordinary took place right through flight.

“Given the security document of this airplane, and the truth that it best had 9 deadly injuries in 25 years, I extremely doubt it is a producer’s factor,” she informed CNBC on Tuesday.

“Clearly it is too early to take into accounts that, or to make that conclusion,” she said, indicating that most likely “one thing unusual took place” because the airplane has had a excellent protection document up to now.

Seek for the ‘black field’

Because the airplane used to be a U.S.-made aircraft, the U.S. Nationwide Transportation Protection Board mentioned it has appointed an investigator for the crash.

Investigators will paintings to get well so-called black bins that comprise cockpit voice recordings and flight knowledge. They’re additionally prone to read about the airplane’s earlier flights, repairs historical past, climate knowledge and pilot well being.

Macheras mentioned it is the black field this is going to “in the end push investigators into the best route, in that quest for solutions.”

“As the character of the crash stays totally unexplained, what function the airplane used to be taking part in would be the query on such a lot of regulators’ [minds] international,” he mentioned. “There’s at all times that chance and that is the reason why investigators shall be in need of to rule out no matter they are able to. However as we are saying, the black field is what is going to comprise probably the most affect.”

— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng and Leslie Josephs contributed to this document.