GUANGXI ZHUANG AUTONOMOUS REGION — The National Transportation Safety Board on May 1, 2026, released a report concluding that the March 21, 2022 crash of a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 in Guangxi was caused by an intentional fuel cutoff to both engines following a struggle in the cockpit. The report, dated July 1, 2022, found that all 132 people aboard were killed when the jet flew into a mountain.

The jet was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it lost control. The crew reported no problems before losing contact with air traffic control. The flight data recorder showed the plane entered a nosedive and a 360-degree roll before impact, creating a 65-foot crater and setting the surrounding forest on fire.

The flight data recorder revealed that fuel to both engines was intentionally cut off and that there was a struggle over the plane's controls. By design, the fuel levers on a Boeing 737 cannot move unless they are pulled out to release a lock. "The levers lock into place, so it's likely that someone deliberately moved them both to the cutoff position," said John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator, described the control inputs recorded before the crash. "Typically when you want to roll an airplane, it's a smooth movement of the control wheel in one direction. But here you have it moving back and forth, back and forth, as if someone is trying to counter the initial movement of the roll," Guzzetti said.

The flight data ended while the plane was at 26,000 feet after the flight recorder and all hydraulic systems lost power. The cockpit voice recorder continued working because it had a battery backup, though the NTSB did not release a transcript of its recordings. Chinese investigators found no abnormalities with the plane, the crew, or weather conditions.

The NTSB became involved in the investigation because the plane and engines were made by American companies. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has not released its final report more than four years after the March 2022 crash. International standards call for investigators to release their report roughly a year after a crash.

Cox said pilots can be reluctant to seek mental health help for fear of losing certification. "Clearly pilots — and very understandably so — are oftentimes reluctant to come forward, knowing that to get recertified after having gone through a mental health evaluation, it can be very arduous and very lengthy," he said. Recertification can take months or longer, during which a grounded pilot is not paid, and some countries prohibit pilots from taking common psychiatric medicines such as antidepressants.

Previous pilot suicides include the 2015 Germanwings crash into the French Alps that killed everyone aboard. In 2023, an off-duty pilot who had taken psychedelic mushrooms days earlier tried to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight while riding in the cockpit.