Moving the levers to cutoff would have immediately starved both engines of fuel and shut them down, reinforcing suspicions the aircraft was intentionally brought down.
The plane crashed into a hillside, killing all 132 people on board, and China has yet to publish a final report on the disaster.
Can new international rules force China to reveal the truth behind the 2022 China Eastern crash?
After another pilot-caused crash, how can the airline industry truly prevent murder in the cockpit?
What crucial evidence is on the cockpit voice recorder that China is hiding from the world?
China Eastern Flight 5735 Crash: Evidence of Intentional Fuel Cutoff and Cockpit Sabotage Uncovered
Overview
The 2026 NTSB report, revealed through a FOIA request, conclusively showed that China Eastern Flight 5735 crashed due to deliberate cockpit actions. At cruising altitude, both engines' fuel switches were manually cut off, followed by autopilot disconnection and aggressive control inputs that caused a fatal dive. No attempt was made to restart the engines, leading to the crash that killed all 132 onboard. Despite recovering the black boxes, China withheld the final report and cockpit voice recordings, citing national security, which violated international norms and fueled speculation. This secrecy damaged trust, harmed the airline's reputation, and caused geopolitical friction, highlighting urgent needs for transparency and better pilot mental health support worldwide.