• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Pilot's chilling final words before plane crashed into the sea killing 228 people

Home> News> Travel

Published 19:51 19 Apr 2024 GMT+1

Pilot's chilling final words before plane crashed into the sea killing 228 people

The harrowing black box recordings of the doomed Air France flight have been released

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

The final words of a pilot before the plane he was flying crashed into the sea are as chilling as it gets.

On 1 June, 2009, Air France Flight 447 departed Rio de Janeiro set for Paris.

However, the Airbus A330 never made it to its final destination as it plummeted towards the Atlantic Ocean.

All 228 onboard - made up of 12 crew members and 216 passengers - were tragically killed.

Advert

Days later, debris from the Air France jet was found floating among the waves, something which sparked a two-year search of the depths of the sea.

Search crews discovered black box recorders, which held key information about what had occurred in the air prior to the plane crashing.

Air France operated the aircraft. (Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Air France operated the aircraft. (Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The recording devices revealed that the plane's speed sensors had become blocked and iced up as the plane tried to make its way through a storm.

Advert

This resulted in the plane's systems producing faulty data for the flight.

The autopilot on the Airbus A330-203 was disabled, while the pilots also had to deal with trying to make sense of confusing data regarding their speed and altitude.

Subsequently, they decided to resume manual piloting.

But due to the plane system's not operating properly, captain Marc Dubois, 58, and his two co-pilots David Robert, 37, and Pierre-Cédric Bonin, 32, were being guided by incorrect navigation data while battling through a tropical storm.

Advert

The plane entered an aerodynamic stall, which led to trio mistakenly pointing the nose of the jet upwards instead of down.

The flight then started to tumble from the sky as the pilots had a panicked conversation.

Excerpts from recorded conversations reveal that two of the pilots on the Air France flight were asleep when the plane got into difficulty.

Debris from the flight 447. (ERIC CABANIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Debris from the flight 447. (ERIC CABANIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Advert

"We’ve lost our speeds!" one pilot began.

"I don’t know what’s happening," another voice was heard saying.

Bonin then was later heard screaming: "Let’s go! Pull up, pull up, pull up!"

"F***, we're going to crash! It's not true! But what's happening?" Robert then exclaimed.

Advert

And the fate of the aircraft was seemingly known when an unknown individual shouted: "F***, we're dead."

So, could the fatal situation have played out any differently?

As per the Daily Mail, chief investigator Alain Bouillard said: "If the captain had stayed in position through the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone, it would have delayed his sleep by no more than 15 minutes, and because of his experience, maybe the story would have ended differently.

"But I do not believe it was fatigue that caused him to leave. It was more like customary behavior, part of the piloting culture within Air France.

Advert

"And his leaving was not against the rules. Still, it is surprising. If you are responsible for the outcome, you do not go on vacation during the main event."

In 2023, a court in Paris ruled that Air France and Airbus were not guilty of manslaughter for the deaths of those on board.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images / Forca Aerea Brasileira via LatinContent via Getty Images

Topics: Travel, News

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Pilot's chilling final words before plane crashed into the sea and killed 228 people
  • Passenger sent heartbreaking final text message before plane skidded and crashed killing 179 people
  • Cockpit audio recording captures final moments before plane crashed into hillside killing three crew members
  • Chilling cockpit recording captures final moments of Alaska Airlines plane that crashed killing all on board

Choose your content:

9 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • Ángel Hidalgo
    9 hours ago

    People terrified as photographer captures world's 'first-ever' white Iberian Lynx thought to be extinct

    The beautiful beast was captured sitting in the sun before appearing to look directly at the camera

    News
  • Getty stock
    9 hours ago

    People left 'extremely disturbed' after discovering what Halloween Jack O'Lanterns originally looked like

    Traditionally, pumpkins weren't even the vegetable being carved out

    News
  • Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
    10 hours ago

    Prince Andrew stripped of 'prince' title and told to leave his home Royal Lodge as Crown releases statement

    It comes as King Charles has been under pressure following revelations in the posthumous memoir of Andrew's accuser, Virginia Giuffre

    News
  • Domenico Cippitelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images
    10 hours ago

    Mel Gibson sparks major backlash after casting pro-choice actor as Virgin Mary in upcoming film

    It isn't the first time the filmmaker, a known pro-lifer, has cast a pro-choice actor to take on a role in his biblical franchise

    Celebrity