Impact at that speed may complicate investigations since it may destroy evidence and damage even the plane’s most resilient data recorders.
he China Eastern Airlines Corp. jet that crashed Monday was traveling at close to the speed of sound in the moments before it slammed into a hillside, according to a Bloomberg News review of flight-track data.
“The preliminary data indicate it was near the speed of sound,” said John Hansman, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology astronautics and aeronautics professor who reviewed Bloomberg’s calculation of the jet’s speed. “It was coming down steep.” The speed data is consistent with videos appearing to show the jet diving at a steep angle in the moments before impact and indicates that it likely hit the ground with huge force.
Zhu Tao, an official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said at a briefing on Tuesday that the recorders had not been recovered. Searchers won’t be aided by a beacon or “ping” from the devices because they are only activated underwater. Accident investigators should be able to find more precise speed data from the jet’s flight recorder. If it isn’t available for some reason, aerodynamic experts can perform extensive analysis to more closely estimate speed.
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