The newly released National Transportation Safety Board data describing the Boeing 737-800’s black-box record is pointing investigators toward a timeline in which both engines were cut off and a cockpit control pattern aviation safety experts associate with struggle appeared before the aircraft went into a steep dive and later crashed, killing all 132 people aboard.

The NTSB report, released May 1 in response to a public records request, contains what American investigators said the plane’s flight data recorder showed in the period leading up to the crash. The NTSB became involved in the Chinese investigation because the aircraft and its engines were built by American companies, and because U.S. investigators are regarded as leading experts in analyzing black boxes, according to the report description made public through the NTSB.

A key part of the NTSB’s findings concerns the engine fuel controls. Aviation safety executives reviewing the data said the flight recorder points to fuel to both engines being cut off, and they said the design of Boeing 737 fuel levers makes accidental movement unlikely; John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems, said the levers “lock into place,” making it more likely that someone deliberately moved them both to the cutoff position.

The report’s timeline shows the recording ended while the aircraft was still at about 26,000 feet (7,900 meters) of altitude, after the flight recorder and all of the plane’s hydraulic systems lost power. The NTSB’s disclosure includes description of the roughly 12 minutes before that loss of power, but it says it is up to Chinese authorities to release additional details that could help confirm what happened in the cockpit.

Aviation experts said the flight data also contains what they described as a control pattern consistent with a struggle. Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration crash investigator, said the data suggests the crew was struggling and that the crash could have been a pilot suicide, while emphasizing that the record is not conclusive. Guzzetti said that when a pilot wants to roll an airplane the control wheel typically moves smoothly in one direction, but in this case the wheel moved “back and forth, back and forth,” which he said “sure has the earmarks of a struggle in the cockpit.”

The flight data recorder transcript issue affects what outsiders can conclude. The cockpit voice recorder continued working because it had battery backup, but the NTSB did not release a transcript of what it found, the report description said; Chinese investigators have not yet released those details either.

The NTSB disclosure also underscores the limits of what can be proven without the final Chinese investigation. Experts said standards call for investigators to aim to release final reports about a year after a crash, and in this case the Civil Aviation Administration of China had not yet released its final report more than four years after the March 21, 2022, crash. Cox also said the new NTSB report does not indicate a problem with the plane itself.

The aircraft was flying from Kunming in southwest China to Guangzhou near Hong Kong when it went into a nosedive at about 8,800 meters (29,000 feet). The description says it appeared to recover before then slamming into the mountain, leaving a crater about 65 feet (20 meters) wide and setting the forest on fire. The crew reported no problems before losing contact with air traffic control, and Chinese investigators previously said they found no abnormalities among the plane or crew and no outside elements such as bad weather.

The NTSB-linked account may also renew longstanding industry concern about how pilots seek help for mental health. Cox said many pilots may be reluctant to come forward because they could lose their medical certification and be grounded, and that the recertification process can take months, leaving pilots without pay. Cox also said some countries restrict pilots from taking psychiatric medicines such as antidepressants, and he said the recertification path after a mental health evaluation can be “very arduous and very lengthy.”

Guzzetti, in comments tied to the newly released data, compared the pattern of a possible deliberate action to earlier cases and noted the implications for cockpit safety. He cited earlier crash investigations, including one in 1999 involving an Egypt Air flight and a later Horizon Air incident in which, he said, an off-duty pilot took psychedelic mushrooms days beforehand and tried to cut the engines while in the cockpit. Aviation experts said those references are part of how the industry discusses the mental-health and access issues raised by aviation accidents, even as the NTSB data does not conclusively establish intent.

China Eastern’s crash, described by investigators and safety experts as a rare failure after the airline industry dramatically improved safety following deadly crashes in the 1990s, involved one of four major state-owned airlines in the country. The new NTSB release, while not a final explanation of motive, adds detail to the sequence of mechanical and control events that happened before the aircraft impact.

Sources:

  • Associated Press (Josh Funk), May 7, 2026, on NTSB data released May 1 and public records request details.