The information extracted from the damaged flight recorder of the plane shows orders to enter human data to the controls that sent the plane in its deadly dive, according to the Journal, citing people familiar with the probe.
“The plane did what it was told to do in the cockpit,” the newspaper was quoted as saying by a man familiar with the preliminary assessment by US authorities.
The plane’s flight recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered from the crash and sent to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington for analysis, Chinese state media reported earlier.
U.S. officials involved in the investigation are focusing on the pilot’s actions, the Journal reported, adding that it is also possible that someone else on the plane broke into the cockpit and intentionally caused the crash.
Chinese investigators have not identified any mechanical or technical problems with the aircraft that could have caused the crash and may require further action in the industry – as is typical of such events – a fact that US officials believe gives their assessment credibility. , the magazine reported.
CNN asked the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) and China Eastern Airlines for comment.
In a statement to the Journal, China Eastern said no evidence had emerged to determine if there were any problems with the plane involved in the crash. The airline told the Journal that the pilots’ health and family conditions were good, adding that their financial situation was also good.
“Any unofficial speculation could hinder the investigation of the accident and affect the real progress of the global air transport industry,” the airline told the Journal.
On Wednesday, China’s state-run Global Times quoted a CAAC statement as saying it had contacted NTSB investigators who refused to “provide information about the investigation to any media outlet.”
According to the Global Times, the CAAC said the investigation was continuing in a “scientific and rigorous” manner and promised to publish “timely and accurate” updates.
In a summary of its preliminary report, published on April 20, the CAAC said the two black boxes were “severely damaged” and “data recovery and analysis work is still ongoing”.
The report says the flight crew and maintenance staff “meet the relevant standards” and there are no items on board that have been declared dangerous goods, nor have there been any forecasts of dangerous weather.
Before the plane deviated from altitude, radio communications between the crew and the air traffic control department did not show any deviations, according to the report.
Rumors of a co-pilot deliberately crashing the plane were widespread on the Chinese Internet until early April, with some citing CAAC remarks on the mental health of aviation personnel after the crash.
At an aviation security meeting on April 6, CAAC Director Feng Zhenglin called on Communist Party officials at all levels to “stabilize the minds of their teams, make every effort to address the problems of employees in their work, life and training and ensure their physical and mental health. “
“In particular, the staff must do everything possible in the ideological work of the pilots to lay a solid foundation for the safe operation of the front line,” Feng said.
Speculation about the pilot’s suicide, which caused the crash, previously led the CAAC to issue a refusal. “These rumors … have seriously misled the public and hampered the investigation into the incident,” Wu Shijie, a CAAC spokesman, told a news conference on April 11, adding that police were investigating the rumors.
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