Ten questions and ten answers on the latest situation of China Eastern Airlines passenger plane crash
2022-03-24 23:15:45Source: Xinhuanet
Xinhua News Agency, Nanning, March 24. What progress has been made in the search and rescue work? Is it true to reduce aircraft maintenance costs? How is the appeasement and aftercare work? …On March 24, the fourth press conference of the National Emergency Response Headquarters of the “3.21” China Eastern Airlines MU5735 aircraft flight accident was held in Wuzhou, Guangxi, and a series of issues of public concern received the latest responses.
How is the black box search, decoding, etc. progressing?
Zhu Tao, director of the Aviation Safety Office of the Civil Aviation Administration, introduced that the first black box (cockpit voice recorder) was delivered to the decoding laboratory in Beijing by a special person on the evening of March 23, and the data download and analysis work is in progress. The possibility of damage to the storage unit cannot be ruled out. The search for a second black box (flight data recorder) is currently underway.
What else was found besides the black box?
According to Zheng Xi, the head of the Guangxi Fire Rescue Corps, as of 16:00 on the 24th, search and rescue personnel had searched for 21 remains of the victims, 183 pieces of aircraft wreckage and some of the remains of the victims, which have been handed over to the investigation team.
Zhu Tao said that the main aircraft wreckage that has been found includes engine blades and turbine parts, engine hanger parts, left and right horizontal tail parts, aileron autopilot actuators and wings with some winglets. Fragments of the crew’s escape rope, crew manual fragments and some crew documents were also found in the cockpit.
Has the main point of impact of the accident been determined?
Zhu Tao introduced that the main impact point of the accident has been basically determined. Most of the wreckage of the plane is concentrated in the core area with a radius of about 30 meters around the main impact point, and the depth extends down from the surface to about 20 meters.
How does severe weather affect on-site rescue?
Zheng Xi introduced that in the past few days, the continuous rainfall in the Teng County area made it more difficult to rescue on-site. First, the rainfall caused the accumulation of water in the core area of the accident; second, according to expert assessment, there was a risk of small-scale landslides and landslides at the accident search and rescue site; third, the road became more difficult to travel after the rain, the accident area was far away from the highway, and the mountain road was narrow and slippery. Large fire rescue vehicles and equipment are inaccessible.
“In response to these problems, we have made corresponding arrangements and deployments to shorten the search and rescue time and improve search and rescue efficiency as much as possible while ensuring safety.” Zheng Xi said.
Did the crashed plane involve a fork maintenance problem?
Liu Xiaodong, director of China Eastern’s propaganda department, introduced that the B1791 aircraft in this accident was only 6.8 years old and flew 8,986 sorties in total. Flight take-offs and landings. The crashed plane did not involve overhaul of this component.
Does the nose hit the ground vertically?
In response to the current video of the plane’s final nose hitting the ground vertically, Zhu Tao said that because aircraft accident investigation is a highly professional and systematic technical work, it requires the cooperation of investigators, technical experts and relevant units. In order to peel the cocoon and sort out the facts.
Zhu Tao said that the main task at present is to search and rescue and protect the scene and fixed evidence. While the on-site investigation is being carried out, other evidence collection work has been carried out simultaneously, including sealing and arranging relevant records and materials, organizing and conducting witness interviews, and summarizing and analyzing various types of evidence collected. Any major findings will be announced to the society as soon as possible.
Is it true that China Eastern Airlines compresses maintenance costs?
Liu Xiaodong said that with regard to maintenance costs, even though the number of flights has decreased during the epidemic, China Eastern Airlines has not reduced maintenance costs, but increased them in order to ensure safety. Maintenance costs in 2021 will increase by 12% compared with 2019, and the relevant data are all public. and well documented.
What is the current situation of China Eastern’s investigation of potential safety hazards?
Liu Xiaodong said that at present, China Eastern Airlines and its subsidiaries have temporarily grounded 223 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. China Eastern has strengthened the investigation of potential safety hazards, sorted out a self-examination list of 36 items in 7 dimensions, including ideological understanding, professional team, release standards, regulations and standards, management chain, support capability, and responsibility implementation, and formulated flight, maintenance, operation control, and aviation. Special security management and control measures for professional systems such as prevention, etc., and do a good job in the dynamic and continuous clearing of hidden problems.
Liu Xiaodong introduced that at present, all passenger aircraft in operation meet the safety and airworthiness standards of China’s civil aviation, and the temporarily grounded passenger aircraft are inspected and maintained with the highest safety standards to ensure their airworthiness.
How is the appeasement and aftercare work?
Liu Xiaodong introduced that as of 8:00 a.m. on the 24th, there were 305 family members of 56 passengers staying in Wuzhou (including Teng County), Guangxi, involving 52 families. China Eastern dispatched a total of 161 family assistance workers in Wuzhou, Guangxi, and also sent a large number of special teams to the local area. The two sides cooperated closely to provide full service guarantee and comfort communication to the families of passengers.
Liu Xiaodong said that under the unified arrangement of the headquarters, more than 200 family members of passengers have gone to the scene of the accident. From today, China Eastern Airlines and local government staff will offer one-on-one condolences to the families of all passengers, including those in Wuzhou, Kunming, Guangzhou and other cities. At the same time, a special group for information statistics has also been established to continuously collect and update the various demands of the family members of passengers, and do their best to serve and protect the family members.
Will the National Transportation Safety Board be invited to assist in the investigation?
Zhu Tao said that at the current stage, the focus of work is still on search and rescue, and at the same time, evidence collection in the early stage of the accident investigation will be carried out. After entering the accident investigation stage, relevant parties will be invited to participate in the accident investigation according to relevant regulations. (Reporter: He Wei, Lu Xianting, Huang Haoming, Lei Jiaxing, Xu Haitao, Hu Jiali)