China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735

China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 (MU5735) was a domestic passenger flight from Kunming Changshui International Airport to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China. At 14:23 China Standard Time (06:23 UTC) on 21 March 2022, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft descended steeply mid-flight and struck the ground at high speed in Teng County, Wuzhou, Guangxi, killing all 132 passengers and crew on board. It was the third-deadliest aviation accident in China, the deadliest involving China Eastern Airlines, and the deadliest aviation accident of 2022. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) is responsible for the investigation.

As of 2026, the CAAC has not released a final accident report and has not published annual updates into the investigation since 2024, which are required under the Convention on International Civil Aviation and the agency's own regulations. The CAAC has stated that no faults or abnormalities were found in the aircraft's systems, structures, or engines.

In May 2026, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the United States released flight data recorder (FDR) information in response to a FOIA request from a Chinese citizen. The data showed that the fuel control switches for both engines were moved to the cutoff position, resulting in both engines shutting down. Seconds later, one of the control sticks in the cockpit was pushed down. While the sequence of events is more consistent with the aircraft being deliberately crashed, the document is not a final accident report.

Flight

The aircraft departed Kunming Changshui International Airport for Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at 13:15 (05:15 UTC) and was scheduled to land at 15:05 (07:05 UTC). The aircraft was scheduled to travel earlier from Baoshan to Kunming, but this segment of the journey was temporarily suspended due to low passenger numbers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China.

Contact with the aircraft was lost over the city of Wuzhou. At 14:22 (06:22 UTC), while approaching its top of descent into Guangzhou, the aircraft entered a sudden steep descent from 29100 ft. It briefly leveled off and climbed from 7400 ft to 9225 ft, but then plunged downwards again, reaching a final recorded altitude of 3225 ft at 376 kn less than two minutes after the beginning of the descent, with a maximum descent rate of above 32000 ft per minute.

At 14:23 (06:23 UTC), the aircraft lost signal and crashed in the mountainous regions of Teng County causing a fire in nearby vegetation. According to an astronautics and aeronautics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, preliminary data indicated the aircraft traveled close to the speed of sound when it crashed. Data from Flightradar24 suggest it was traveling at speeds of 640 km/h and may have exceeded 1126 km/h at the time of impact. The aircraft's impact into the ground created a crater 100 ft wide and 66 ft deep, where most of the wreckage was discovered.

Residents of the villages surrounding the crash site heard a loud explosion. The final descent and crash was recorded by a security camera at the premises of a local mining company. The video showed the plane in a near vertical dive seconds before it struck the ground. Footage from the crash site showed wreckage and a fire. Many smaller pieces of wreckage were scattered in the surrounding area. All of the plane's occupants died. It was the first fatal crash involving China Eastern Yunnan Airlines since November 2004's Flight 5210.

Some information channels such as at Kunming Changshui International Airport and Umetrip temporarily showed the flight had arrived due to not registering the flight's loss of contact. Others showed "loss of contact", "unknown", or a blanked-out status.