MU-5735 China Eastern Airlines - Demotion of five-star captain as first-officer or only as check airman flight

 

FLIGHT MU5735 China Eastern Airlines

by Winnie Han

 

Many aviation experts called the incident odd.

 

So far, there has been no official explanation for Zhang Zhengping’s demotion or why he was on that flight as a first officer.

Everything appeared normal except for the rank designation of the flight crew, mainly the first officer.

 

Gao Fei is a Chinese-American pilot with 26 years of flying experience and has a deep understanding of the culture and management in China’s aviation industry. He has piloted Boeing aircraft in both China and the United States, including the same model as the one that crashed.

 

On March 21, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) confirmed a China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 carrying 132 people crashed in Wuzhou, Guangxi—southeast China. Five days later, on March 26, the Chinese authorities said that all 123 passengers and nine crew members were killed in the crash and that the two “black box” recorders were recovered on March 23 and 27, respectively, but in severely damaged condition.

 

Benjamin Berman

A former National Transportation Safety Board investigator.

He said that the 737-800 is designed so that it will normally not dive at such steep angles.

 

Yang Hongda, the captain of the crashed plane, was 32 years old with a total flight time of 6,709 hours, while Zhang Zhengping, the first officer, was 59 years old with a total flight time of over 32,500 hours. Zhang was also a five-star captain and a recipient of the Chinese pilot’s Medal of Honor.

 

The culture of the Chinese aviation industry, it is highly unusual for Zhang to still be ranked as a first officer when he has flown over 32,500 hours and worked for the same company his entire life. Furthermore, Yang was a student of Zhang.

 

December 2018

Zhang’s career, he was 40-year veteran pilot and a mentor to young pilots. Zhang is one of the few veteran pilots of China Eastern Yunnan Airlines and has piloted four different types of aircraft.

 

Zhang is a “CAAC designated check airman,” one of the highest positions to be given to a pilot.

 

Li Ming, an old apprentice of Zhang, said he was shocked and also saddened when he saw Zhang listed as a first officer on the crew manifest.

Somehow Zhang was demoted to a first officer, losing his decorated status and taking a significant hit on his salary,” Gao said, suggesting a potential cause for emotional distress and a safety hazard for the airline.

 

According to public information, the average annual salary of a captain or a check airman in China was at least $120,000, while a co-pilot’s average annual salary was about $46,000, a drastic difference.

 

All information regarding Zhang has now been removed from the official site.

 

Zhang was a senior pilot of the former Yunnan Airlines, which was later forced into a merger with China Eastern Airlines. After the merger, the former employees of Yunnan Airlines, including Zhang, had a highly complex relationship with the upper management of China Eastern Airlines.

 

Conflict between China Eastern Airlines and the Yunnan Branch

Government-forced merger in 2002

 

Merging a profitable company with a loss-making company was unprecedented.

 

Yunnan Airlines used to be one of China’s most profitable airline companies, and its pilots were fairly well-treated. However, the pilots have reportedly experienced significant salary cuts and poor treatment after the merger.

 

From March 31 to April 1, 2008, pilots of the former Yunnan Airlines launched a protest against the newly merged company. Many pilots refused to land at their destinations upon arrival, citing “bad weather,” and flew their planes back to their origins. After 21 flights refused to land, the company punished 13 pilots and grounded one captain. The report did not mention whether the company has improved its treatment of employees after the protest.

 

PSYCHOLOGIC CREW STATUS - DISTRESS

Demotion of a decorated pilot without a reasonable cause could seriously affect the pilot’s mental state and pose a safety hazard.

 

“In a free world, with Zhang’s qualifications, any airline will offer him a high salary. In the United States, pilots can easily change jobs, but job changes in China are highly restricted and usually coupled with huge fines,” said Gao.

 

Chinese pilots who apply for job changes usually have to go through a lengthy litigation process without guarantee of success or are forced to hand back a massive portion of their compensation.

 

In November 2014, 42 airlines in China signed the “Convention on the Orderly Flow of Airline Pilots,” a pact that stipulates that the outflow rate of pilots from each company should not exceed 1 percent.

 

In 2017, (name preserved) a former pilot of China Eastern Airlines’ Yunnan Branch, was sued by China Eastern Airlines for $864,000 due to his resignation request. In June 2019, the court ordered him to compensate China Eastern Airlines $604,800.

 

“The pilot’s mental state is an important aspect of the incident investigation. I analyzed it from the perspective of the [flight] crew’s designation. I hope the Chinese authorities can disclose the real investigation results and provide a reasonable explanation instead of [covering up facts],” Gao added.