The "black box" of the Zimbabwean cargo plane that broke up and caught fire at Shanghai Pudong Airport on the 28th has been found, according to information obtained by a reporter from the civil aviation management department. However, experts stated that the data decoded from the "black box" is not yet sufficient to ultimately clarify the cause of the accident. Witnesses claimed that during takeoff, the nose landing gear retracted while the main landing gear did not retract. However, an industry insider stated that this may not be the primary cause of the aircraft crash.
The detection and investigation work of the Civil Aviation Administration of China's accident investigation team are still underway. It is understood that experts are currently conducting identification and restoration work at the scene. Yesterday, there were still delays in outbound flights at Pudong Airport, but the time was basically controlled within half an hour.
The first runway is still closed, and flights are still delayed due to the accident. According to Ms. Su Weiwei from the Party Committee Office of Shanghai Pudong Airport Group, the flight order at Pudong Airport has basically returned to normal, but the heavily damaged first runway at Pudong Airport is under repair. After the lighting facilities are repaired, the runway will undergo safety inspections by the civil aviation management department. Once qualified, the runway will immediately resume operations. Since noon on the day of the incident, the second and third runways at Pudong Airport have been responsible for the original three-runway takeoff and landing tasks. Due to the repair process, there may be slight delays in flights over the next few days.
At around 9:00 AM yesterday, the reporter arrived at the east side of the airport road and saw police pulling warning lines at all three exits. In a patch of reeds, more than ten police cars and buses were parked. From afar, some people dressed in civil aviation uniforms and police officers could be seen recording information, with foreigners also taking notes nearby.
When the reporter inquired with a police officer near the warning line, the officer introduced that since the accident occurred on the morning of November 28th, they had been rotating shifts here. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has dispatched staff for intensive investigations.
On the side of the road where one can directly enter the reed area without wire mesh, vehicles occasionally stopped to observe. Due to the dense reeds, the reporter climbed a tree by the roadside to see the aircraft wreckage, some areas burned black. When the reporter went back to check at 2:00 PM, the police were still on duty at the scene, and a layer of canvas had been placed over some large pieces of the aircraft wreckage.
Chuansha Town is a small town adjacent to Pudong Airport. At the time, four injured persons were sent to Renmin Hospital of Pudong New Area in Chuansha Town for treatment.
At around 10:00 AM yesterday, the reporter drove for half an hour from Pudong Airport to Renmin Hospital of Pudong New Area. Upon learning about the search for the four injured foreign crew members, the medical guide informed the reporter: "One is in the neurosurgery monitoring ward, and the other three are in the intensive care unit!"
The reporter went to the sixth-floor intensive care unit and saw staff with Pudong Airport badges standing at the entrance, saying that the patients' conditions were stable, with no major issues. Half an hour later, a young man holding flowers came to the door of the intensive care unit and knocked, saying: "These are flowers for Mr. Aosen!" After inspection and verification by medical personnel, the flowers were taken inside.
Later, this young man surnamed Su told the reporter that he was an employee of the Island Flower Shop in Chuansha Town. That morning, the wife of an injured man in the plane crash specially ordered flowers through the "China Flower Network" to send to her husband.
Yesterday, Sun Xiaoming, Director of the Health Bureau of Pudong New Area, confirmed to our reporter that one seriously injured person among the four rescued crew members was transferred by ambulance at 11:05 AM yesterday from Renmin Hospital of Pudong New Area to Ruijin Hospital East for further treatment after more than 20 hours of active treatment. The three lightly injured individuals will continue to receive treatment at Renmin Hospital of Pudong New Area, mainly for internal medicine treatment for pulmonary blast injuries.
In this cargo aircraft accident, the oldest injured person, 61-year-old Johnson, suffered multiple rib fractures on both sides combined with hemothorax and pneumothorax. The emergency department of Renmin Hospital of Pudong New Area immediately provided chest tube drainage, tracheal intubation, and mechanical ventilation, stabilizing the patient's condition. On the night of the incident, experts from the intensive care unit and cardiothoracic surgery department of Ruijin Hospital were invited for consultation and conducted further examinations, confirming that the patient's vital signs were stable except for slightly low oxygen levels. Currently, the condition of this severely injured individual is relatively stable.
Conditions of the four injured individuals:
- 61-year-old Johnson: American, co-pilot of the aircraft, diagnosed with multiple rib fractures on both sides, accompanied by hemothorax and pneumothorax, the most severely injured among the four.
- 39-year-old Medarsah: Indonesian, engineer on board, diagnosed with damage to the left occipital lobe blood vessels.
- 43-year-old freight supervisor Jiles: dual British and Zimbabwean nationality, diagnosed with right lung contusion, fractures of the 3rd to 5th ribs on the right side, and dislocation of the right acromioclavicular joint.
- 35-year-old Mike: Belgian, diagnosed with bilateral lung contusions, scalp lacerations, and bruises on both lower limbs.
Yesterday, at the surgical intensive care unit of Renmin Hospital of Pudong New Area, the wife of the injured crew member Aosen ordered a bouquet of flowers online, which was delivered to the ward.
Yesterday, the accident site in the northwest corner of Pudong Airport was still cordoned off by the police.
The aircraft involved had only been in service for 8 days.
It is worth noting that the aircraft involved had only just entered service. The reporter noticed that the Xinhua Evening News reported yesterday that the production sequence number (MSN) of the crashed cargo aircraft was 48408. It was handed over to Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. on January 25, 1991, and then managed by Varig Logistica on March 18, 2005. Eight days before the accident, on November 20 of this year, the aircraft was just handed over to Avient Aviation of Zimbabwe.
All MD-11 cargo planes in China have been grounded.
It is known that the aircraft involved in the accident is an MD-11, a trijet medium to long-range wide-body civilian aircraft developed by the former US McDonnell Douglas Corporation, which has a poor reputation in China.
On April 6, 1993, an MD-11 aircraft numbered 2171 operated by Eastern Airlines was flying MU583 from Shanghai to Los Angeles when the leading-edge slats suddenly extended while flying over the Pacific Ocean approximately 950 nautical miles south of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, causing the aircraft to roll and fall several times, losing 5,000 feet in altitude. It made an emergency landing at the U.S. Air Force base on West Amchitka in the Aleutian Islands, resulting in two passenger deaths, 149 passengers and seven crew members injured.
On September 1998, an MD-11 aircraft numbered 2173 operated by Eastern Airlines, flying MU586 from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to Beijing, had its landing gear fail after takeoff and was forced to return. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.
On April 15, 1999, a Korean Air MD-11 aircraft on KAL6316 cargo flight from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport to Seoul crashed shortly after takeoff, resulting in the death of four people on board and five on the ground, four critically injured, and 36 lightly injured.
In the second half of 2003, Eastern Airlines introduced three Airbus A340-600 aircraft. MD-11 aircraft, which had flown domestically for 12 years in China, completely exited the domestic passenger market but were retained as cargo planes after modification.
A vice president of Eastern Airlines in charge of flight operations said that MD-11 aircraft have been gradually phased out of the Chinese civil aviation industry over the years, leaving only a few used for cargo flights by China Cargo Airlines under Eastern Airlines and Shanghai International Cargo Airlines under Shanghai Airlines. Industry insiders revealed yesterday that the Civil Aviation Administration of China has grounded all MD-11 cargo planes nationwide.