Plane with 132 people on board crashes in southern China 1:34
(CNN Business) --
A Boeing 737 plane crashed Monday in China with 132 people on board.
Although Boeing's 737 model has faced extraordinarily high-profile safety issues for the past three years, the plane that crashed was a different version of the 737 Max that shook the company to the core.
Plane crashes with 132 people on board in southern China
The cause of Monday's plane crash has yet to be determined.
The plane that crashed had been in service since 2015. The flight, operated by China Eastern Airlines, was flying from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou when it crashed.
This is what we know about the plane.
The Boeing 737-800
The China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed was a Boeing 737-800.
This is the most common version of Boeing aircraft in service and essentially represents the workhorse in many airline fleets.
Tracking services FlightAware and Flightradar24 reported that this plane is the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 that crashed on Monday with 132 people on board.
This image is a file photo taken on a Chinese track in February 2022. (Credit: Zhou Bodian/VCG via Getty Images)
There are currently 4,502 Boeing 737-800 aircraft in service around the world, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Which makes it by far the most widely used Boeing aircraft right now.
This aircraft model is also the most widely used in the United States, where there are 795 in service, as well as in China, which has 1,177 in service.
And it's the second most common aircraft in use worldwide, behind only the A320 made by Boeing's rival Airbus.
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The Boeing 737-800 is an older aircraft model that has been replaced by the 737 Max.
Previous security issues
Boeing began deliveries of the 737-800 in 1998, but has not shipped a civilian version of the plane since two were provided to China Eastern in January 2020.
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March 21, 2022: A China Eastern Airlines passenger plane carrying 132 people crashed in the mountains of southern China's Guangxi region, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
The causes of the accident are still unknown.
Look in this gallery other air accidents and accidents in recent years.
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January 8, 2020 - A Ukraine International Airlines flight was shot down by Iranian forces hours after Iran launched an attack on Iraqi bases housing US military in response to the killing of General Qassam Soleimani.
All 176 people on board died (Credit: AFP via Getty Images) See the gallery →
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On March 10, 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed just minutes after takeoff in Ethiopia.
All 157 people on board were killed.
It is the same type of plane from the accident 6 months before Lion Air (MICHAEL TEWELDE/AFP/Getty Images)
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On October 29, 2018, a Lion Air airliner with 189 people on board crashed during a short flight between the Indonesian capital Jakarta and the city of Pangkal Pinang, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency. of the Asian country.
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A Boeing 737 crashed while taking off from Havana's José Martí Airport with 104 passengers on board, on Friday, May 18, 2018. (Credit: YAMIL LAGE / AFP / Getty Images)
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Pakistan International Airlines flight PK-661 crashed near Abbottabad, Pakistan, on December 8, 2016. All 42 passengers and five crew members on board were killed, according to the airline.
The flight lost contact with a control tower while en route from Chitral to Islamabad.
It crashed into mountains near Abbottabad and Havelian.
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A charter plane with 77 people on board, including players from the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer team, crashed near Rionegro, Colombia, on Monday, November 28, 2016. 71 people were killed, authorities said.
Six survived.
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EgyptAir Flight 804 disappeared from radar while en route from Paris to Cairo on May 19, 2016. Search teams recovered parts of the wreckage from the Mediterranean Sea, including passengers' personal belongings, life jackets, airplane seats and even some body parts.
The plane had 56 passengers and 10 crew members on board.
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Russian investigators work on the wreckage of the Flydubai plane that crashed on March 19, 2016. All 62 people on board were killed when the plane tried to land in bad weather in Rostov-on-Don.
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A Tara Air plane crashed on February 24, 2016 in the mountainous north of Nepal.
I was in the middle of what should have been a 19-minute flight.
23 people died.
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Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after breaking up while in flight in October 2015. All 224 people on board the plane were killed.
The aircraft was en route to St. Petersburg, Russia, from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
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The wreckage of Germanwings Flight 9525 that crashed in the French Alps on March 24, 2015. The Airbus A320 was carrying at least 150 people when the accident occurred.
The plane was going from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany.
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In this still image taken from video, TransAsia Airways flight GE235 passes a bridge in Taipei, Taiwan, shortly after takeoff on February 4, 2015. There were 58 passengers aboard the ATR72 twin-engine turboprop plane, which plunged into the Keelung river.
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A part of the tail of AirAsia flight QZ8501 is seen on the deck of a rescue ship after it was recovered in the Java Sea on January 10, 2015. The Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control on Sunday. December 28, 2014, shortly after the pilot requested permission to turn and climb to a higher altitude due to bad weather, according to Indonesian officials.
(Credit: AP Photo/Prasetyo Utomo, Pool)
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The site where Air Algerie flight AH 5017 crashed in Mali can be seen from the air.
After the crash, in July 2014, then-French President François Hollande said the plane was in a "state of disintegration."
He added that there were no survivors.
(Credit: KAMBOU/AFP/Getty Images)
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48 people were killed when TransAsia Airways flight GE222 crashed in Taiwan's Penghu island chain on July 23, 2014. (Credit: YEH/AFP/Getty Images)
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Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in a field in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. US intelligence concluded that the plane, carrying 298 people, was shot down.
Ukrainian officials accused pro-Russian rebels of shooting down the plane, but Russia pointed the finger at Ukraine, blaming its military operations against separatists.
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Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared over Southeast Asia on March 8, 2014. Australian officials say they believe the plane was on autopilot throughout its journey across the Indian Ocean until it ran out of fuel.
In August 2015, authorities confirmed that a piece of debris found on Reunion Island came from the aircraft.
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Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, 2013. The South Korean airline's Boeing 777 crashed on the runway.
Three people were killed and more than 180 were injured. (Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
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A Dana Air plane carrying 153 people crashed on June 3, 2012, in a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria's most populous city.
No one on the plane survived, and 10 people on the ground were also killed.
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A Bhoja Air Boeing 737 crashed on April 20, 2012, in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 127 people.
The aircraft was going from Karachi to the Pakistani capital.
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A plane carrying dozens of hockey players crashed on September 7, 2011, outside the Russian city of Yaroslavl, about 100 miles northeast of Moscow.
43 people died.
One of the two survivors later died from his injuries.
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A Hewa Bora Airways plane crashed on July 8, 2011, while trying to land in bad weather at Kisangani airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
74 of the 118 people on board were killed.
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An Airblue flight carrying 152 people crashed into a hillside outside Islamabad, Pakistan, on July 28, 2010. No one survived.
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On May 22, 2010, an Air India plane crash killed 158 people, after the plane overshot a runway in Mangalore, southwestern India, crashed into a ravine and caught fire. .
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A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashed while trying to land at an airport near the Russian city of Smolensk on April 10, 2010. Kaczynski was one of 97 people who died.
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An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Beirut, Lebanon, on January 25, 2010. All 90 people on board were killed.
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An Air France flight carrying 228 people disappeared from radar while over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009. The Airbus A330 took off from Rio de Janeiro for Paris and sent out an automatic signal warning of electrical problems.
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Colgan Air Flight 3407 (a connecting flight with Continental Airlines) crashed into a home outside Buffalo, New York, on February 13, 2009. All 49 people aboard the plane were killed, plus one person on the ground. .
Two occupants of the house survived.
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A TAM Airlines plane skidded off the runway, crashed into a gas station and burst into flames on July 17, 2007, after landing at the airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
All 199 people on board died.
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A Sudan Airways Boeing 737 crashed just after takeoff on July 8, 2003. 116 people were killed and a 3-year-old boy was the only survivor.
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An American Airlines plane crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy Airport on November 12, 2001, killing 265 people, including five on the ground.
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An Air France Concorde flight, bound for New York, crashed into a Paris hotel shortly after takeoff July 25, 2000. All 109 passengers and crew members were killed.
Four people on the ground were also killed.
The 737-800 is part of a class of Boeing aircraft known as the 737-NG.
The NG planes have had safety issues that US regulators have cited, though none rose to the level of requiring the planes to remain on the ground.
In 2018, a passenger died on a Boeing 737-700, the other plane in the Next Generation family.
In that accident, an engine fan blade on a Southwest Airlines flight broke off, causing part of the engine cover to strike the side of the plane.
He broke one of the windows and the cabin rapidly depressurized.
The crew was able to land the plane safely.
But a woman who was walking by that window died.
How Boeing could win back our trust
In 2019, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that Boeing redesign part of the plane's engine covers to prevent them from flying into the aircraft in the event of a similar failure.
Boeing agreed to make the change.
On some older aircraft a part used to hold the wings in place was found to have cracks.
Those cracks temporarily grounded a handful of 737 NGs.
Other fatal accidents involving the 737-800 occurred when planes landed in bad weather and overshot or skidded the runways.
Two were hit in the sky by missiles: one in Ukraine in 2014, the other in Iran in 2020.
The 737 Max 8
Two Boeing 737 Maxes have been in fatal accidents, in 2018 (Lion Air) and 2019 (Ethiopian Airlines), which were shown to be caused by a design flaw.
The tragedies led to a 20-month global suspension of the aircraft.
Those accidents resulted in the 20-month immobilization of the 737 Max.
Which cost Boeing tens of billions of dollars.
What the return of the Boeing 737 MAX to flights will mean for passengers
The 737-800 does not have the feature that caused the 737 Max crashes.
Richard Quest, Yong Xiong, and Helen Regan, all of CNN, contributed to this report.
plane crashBoeing 737China Eastern Airlines