China’s aircraft that crashed was travelling close to speed of sound

Beijing, Mar 23: The China Eastern Airlines Corp, which crashed on Monday was travelling close to the speed of sound moments before it rammed into a hillside, a review of the flight track data by Bloomberg News said.

The Boeing C. 737-800 was flying through the air at over 966 kilometres per hour and at times may have even exceeded 700 mph, data by Flightradar24 said. This impact may hamper investigations as it wipes out evidence. In rare cases such an impact can even damage a plane's data and voice recorders that are usually designed to withstand most crashes.

The China Eastern's flight No. 5735 had been traveling at around 30,000 feet when suddenly, just after 0620 GMT, the plane entered a deep dive at its cruising altitude speed of 455 knots (523 mph, 842 kph), according to data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com. The data suggests the plane crashed within a minute and a half of whatever went wrong.

The China Eastern's flight No. 5735 had been traveling at around 30,000 feet when suddenly, just after 0620 GMT, the plane entered a deep dive at its cruising altitude speed of 455 knots (523 mph, 842 kph), according to data from flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.com. The data suggests the plane crashed within a minute and a half of whatever went wrong.