(Adds lost letter to headline

BEIJING (Reuters), – China’s aviation regulator is conducting a sectorwide inspection in order to spot potential safety lapses. Meanwhile, authorities are racing to locate victims and search the black boxes for a crashed commercial jet.

China Eastern Airlines (NYSE 🙂 plane crashed in Guangxi on Monday. Chinese aviation authorities warned them that they would have a difficult time investigating the accident due to the extensive damage the aircraft sustained.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, (CAAC), the two-week-long inspection of the sector will include checks at all regional airport traffic control bureaus, flight companies and flight training institutions in order to guarantee the safety of aviation operations as well as people’s lives.

China Eastern Airlines and its two subsidiaries grounded over 200 Boeing (NYSE) 737-880 aircrafts since the accident. China’s last commercial jetliner crashed was an Embraer E-190 regional jet, flown in 2010 by Henan Airlines.

Vice Premier Liu He visited Guangxi Monday night, to supervise search-and rescue operations. Similarly, Vice Premier Liu He was sent to Guangxi Monday night in 2010 for search-and-rescue operations.

State media reported that officials in charge of search and rescue operations have pledged to go “all out” for their mission, after Liu’s Tuesday meeting.

Also, officials were told that information should be released “according to the principles timeliness accuracy transparency and openness”. The wider aviation sector also needs to perform additional checks in order to stop major accidents from occurring.

An aviation official claimed that the aircraft involved in the crash had exceeded airworthiness standards and all crew had survived the incident.

FATAL DECENT

After the Boeing plane crashed, 132 passengers were onboard. Rescuers from hundreds of cities have searched for their victims. State media described the situation as “dreadful” and said that no survivors were found.

Chinese media reported that a jet seemed to be diving to the earth at an angle approximately 35 degrees above the vertical, as seen in footage from the vehicle’s dashboard camera. Reuters was unable to verify the footage immediately.

The flight MU5735 was travelling from Kunming (capital of Yunnan), to Guangzhou in Guangdong provincial bordering Hong Kong. It suddenly dropped to cruising height at the same time it would usually start to descend.

A pilot flying outside China said that the ‘normal” rate of descent from 29,000ft would be between 2000-3,000 feet per second, depending on several factors.

The pilot stated that even during depressurisation events, a descent at a speed of about two times this would still be a good rate. Flightradar24 stated that the aircraft had a descent speed of 31,000 feet per second.

Boeing is trying to recover from multiple crises including the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and safety concerns regarding its 737 MAX aircraft following two fatal crashes.

China Eastern is also facing deepening losses, and more regulatory scrutiny after the crash.

It is a tragedy that shocked a country with one of best safety records for airlines in the world. Also, whose airline industry, which was prior to COVID, has been one of fastest growing passenger markets over the past decade.

This story was refiled in order to include a dropped letter as a headline