According to US media reports, flight data indicates that the China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed in March was intentionally nosedived.
Citing preliminary assessments by US officials, the report said investigators have not yet found any mechanical or technical faults in the jet.
A Boeing 737-800 was flying between the southern Chinese cities of Kunming and Guangzhou when it crashed. All 132 passengers and crew members onboard the plane died in the accident.
“The plane did what it was told to do by someone in the cockpit,” according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the story, citing a person familiar with US officials’ preliminary assessment of the cause of the crash.
Data from one of the plane’s “black box” flight recorders, which was recovered from the crash site, suggested that inputs to the controls pushed the aircraft into a near-vertical dive, the report said.
ABC News also reported, citing US officials, that the accident is believed to have been caused by a deliberate act.
Investigators probing the crash are investigating whether it was caused by deliberate action on the flight deck, which found no evidence of a technical fault, according to Reuters, which briefed two people on the matter.
China Eastern Airlines had earlier said that the three pilots on board were eligible and in good health.
The airline separately told the Wall Street Journal that there was no indication that any of the pilots were in financial trouble. China Eastern Airlines did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
