Chinese aircraft black box retrieved, reports suggest it went down at speed of sound

Officials in China stated Wednesday that one of the two black boxes had been found. According to Flightradar24 data, the jet was travelling at more than 640 miles (966 kilometres) per hour and may have surpassed 700 mph at various times right before the catastrophic crash.

Team Newsable

Beijing, First Published Mar 23, 2022, 4:21 PM IST | Last Updated Mar 23, 2022, 4:21 PM IST

An aviation official announced Wednesday that a black box from the wrecked Chinese passenger plane carrying 132 passengers has been discovered. A flight recorder "from China Eastern MU5735 was discovered on March 23," according to Liu Lusong, a representative for China's aviation authority. According to a Bloomberg News assessment of flight-track data, the China Eastern Airlines Corp. plane that crashed Monday was moving at nearly the speed of sound in the seconds before slamming into a hillside. An impact of this magnitude can wipe evidence and damage a plane's data and voice recorders, which are built to withstand the majority of accidents.

Meanwhile, sound travels at 761 mph at sea level but slows with height as air temperature drops. As a result, sound travels at approximately 663 mph at 35,000 feet altitude.
This data corresponds with videos that show the plane diving at a steep angle just before collapsing with tremendous force on the ground.

Also Read | No survivors found in Chinese airliner crash, 132 were aboard

According to Chinese official media, no survivors have been located in the crash's debris. According to Bloomberg, the jet was travelling to Guangzhou from Kunming at an altitude of roughly 29,000 feet at 595 mph when it began its steep drop. FlightRadar24 recorded the last data transmission at roughly 3,200 feet altitude. The plane temporarily ascended around 40 seconds before the last communication before resuming its severe plunge.

Also read: Here's what radar information revealed about last minutes of China crash

Also read: China's deadliest crash since 2010; Boeing aircraft crashes into hill

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