Final Chilling Words of Pilot before Air France Jet Crashed in the Sea Killing 228 People Disclosed

On the evening of May 31, 2009, Air France Flight 447 embarked on a routine flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, but it ended up with a tragic disaster at sea, claiming the lives of all 228 passengers and crew aboard. Years after the crash, audio recordings from the cockpit revealing the chilling moment before it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean have been found.

On the evening of May 31, 2009, Air France Flight 447 was ready for its long journey from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Captain Marc Dubois, an experienced pilot with nearly 11,000 flight hours, and junior co-pilot Pierre-Cédric Bonin were in charge.

The crew had arrived in Rio three days before the fateful flight to Paris. Bonin, 32, brought his wife, leaving their two sons at home. Dubois was accompanied by an off-duty flight attendant and opera singer, and they all enjoyed exploring the vibrant city while staying at Copacabana Beach.

The Airbus A330 took off at 7:29 P.M. The flight plan took it along Brazil’s coastline, climbing to 35,000 feet into a night that was expected to be routine. In the cockpit, the pilots talked casually about the night ahead, but their conversation later became heated, which was key to understanding the mysterious and tragic end of Flight 447.

Captain Dubois announced he needed to sleep since he had not rested well the night before. Meanwhile, senior co-pilot Robert managed the cockpit as the Pilot Not Flying, and Bonin continued as the Pilot Flying.

The Airbus A330 was cruising at 35,000 feet, maintaining a speed of 0.82 Mach with a slight nose-up attitude crucial for generating lift. Despite earlier issues with the pitot tubes freezing, they had thawed by this time, restoring the airspeed indicators. However, the pilots did not realize what the correct speed readings should be and failed to use the GPS-derived ground speed for guidance.

For 12 seconds, the cockpit was silent while alarms repeatedly warned of a stall. The plane climbed to 38,000 feet then began to drop rapidly. In just one minute and 17 seconds, the plane began falling faster, marking the start of a very serious situation.

As the crisis worsened, Dubois was called back to the cockpit. In his absence, Robert tried desperately to manage the situation and repeatedly signaled for Dubois to return.

Robert attempted to take control from Bonin, who immediately overrode him, causing further confusion over who was in charge of the aircraft. Bonin admitted he was confused about their speed and felt like they were accelerating despite the aircraft’s nose being significantly raised and power being low.

Dubois eventually returned to a cockpit filled with confusion and panic. The aircraft was now descending past its original cruising altitude at a rate of 10,000 feet per minute. The audio retrieved showed the pilots desperately trying to regain control of the aircraft.

Robert, sounding urgent, said, “But we’ve got the engines! What the hell is happening?” Bonin, panicked, responded, “I don’t have control of the airplane anymore! I don’t have control of the airplane at all!”

As Robert shouted, “Controls to the left!” and tried to take command, Bonin, using his priority button, took control back without a word, leading Robert to exclaim, “What’s going on?”

Bonin, still confused, said, “I have the impression we’re going crazily fast.” Dubois, trying to assess the situation, calmly asked, “What’s happening?” Robert replied, “I don’t know what’s happening!”

Bonin declared, “We’re losing control of the airplane!” Robert, in a final plea to Dubois, stated, “We completely lost control of the airplane, and we don’t understand anything! We tried everything!”

Soon after, it was not clear whether Robert or Bonin said, “[expletive], we’re dead,” four hours and 15 minutes into the flight, which soon crashed into the Atlantic.

After the tragic crash of Air France Flight 447, which killed all 228 people on board, years of investigations and court cases followed to determine the cause of the disaster and who was responsible.

The official investigation by the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) looked into both the technical failures and how the pilots handled the situation. They concluded that the crash was caused by a combination of the speed sensors getting blocked by ice and mistakes made by the pilots.

At the same time, a legal investigation tried to find out if anyone was legally at fault. Air France and Airbus, the airplane manufacturer, were accused of not keeping the plane safe and not training the pilots properly. After many years, the courts decided in 2019 that there was not enough evidence to blame Air France and Airbus for what happened. They were not held legally responsible.

The decision not to hold Air France and Airbus responsible was controversial. While some people understood that many factors contributed to the crash, others felt it was unfair that the companies were not held accountable.

Many families who lost loved ones in the tragic accident were left heartbroken by the decision. They had hoped that the trial would bring some closure by holding someone responsible. People felt let down and believed that the decision overlooked the companies’ mistakes, but some families promised to keep fighting for justice.

The pain of losing loved ones in a plane crash is unimaginable. For this student and instructor, something went wrong during take-off leading to the death of both passengers. Click here to read how the plane crash happened.

A small two-seater plane crashed on Wednesday morning at the Van Nuys Airport. The incident was reported at 10:37 a.m., and responders were on the scene immediately to put out the fire.

The plane was reportedly involved in flight training carrying an instructor and a student. The crash was high-impact and described as a nose-first crash, meaning it burst into flames as soon as it reached the ground, leaving the male occupants dead.

When the firefighters arrived to put out the fire, they created a foam blanket to get to the passengers, who were left unidentifiable.

According to the FlightAware tracker, the plane went around the airport twice, but the third loop happened quickly before it crashed.

It is still unknown how the accident happened; however, audio tapes indicate that the pilot contacted the airport tower to report that the plane had stalled and asked for an emergency landing. But only 14 minutes after it took off, it crashed.

It was also reported that the same plane had flown a dozen times during the week and had a successful landing between 7 and 8 a.m. on the day of the incident. So, the reason behind the crash still remains a mystery and continues to be investigated.

There are still several questions surrounding this sudden plane crash. At the time of the accident, there was a police officer just a few feet away who saw it happen in real-time. But the officer could not do anything to help as the plane burst into flames right away.

Another eyewitness, named John, said he noticed the big fire, indicating that the plane had a lot of fuel. But the explosion was not big enough to affect the neighboring houses.

As someone who has been part of the Van Nuys aviation team, John pointed out that the plane crash occurred at an unusual location. He explained,

“It’s not near the end of a runway. The possibilities of what happened are pretty varied. The air person could have stalled the airplane. It could’ve been a mechanical issue, or there could’ve been a medical issue.”

A student pilot, Keith Matsushita, also explained how crucial it is to respond to a stall in a plane, especially in low altitudes. Matsushita said, “You’re too low to fly back to the airport, and you’re too high to survive the landing, so we pray that doesn’t happen to any of us pretty much every time we fly,”

According to reports, this was the third crash at the Van Nuys Airport in 2023, but this was the first one to lead to death in almost 20 years.

The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating the crash and will release a report soon. However, we wish the families of the deceased strength during this painful time.

Here’s another story about a plane crash that killed six people.