Harrowing last words of pilot as plane carrying 228 people plummeted into Atlantic Ocean

A pilot declared a frightening warning moments before the airliner carrying 228 people plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean. All 228 people onboard the Air France flight died following the deadly crash.

The Airbus A330 was heading to Paris when it disappeared four hours after take off from Rio de Janeiro after a storm broke out. The tragic crash happened on June 1, 2009, but officials were able to locate what was left of the crash two years later, reports MirrorOnline.

It followed a search spanning 10,000sqkm. A black box was among the items that were recovered and proved one of the most important finds alongside the cockpit recordings.

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Audio from the cockpit revealed the pilot's last nine words before the plane plummeted to the depths below in the sea. A recording was captured of the co-pilot and first officer, 32-year-old Pierre-Cedric Bonin, who was heard saying: "[I] don't have control of the aeroplane anymore now." This was followed by: "I don't have control of the aeroplane at all!"

The crash was linked to a combination of technical failures and the pilots' inability to respond correctly to the plane stalling, causing it to drop at a rate of 11,000ft per minute. According to France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA), ice crystals led to the autopilot unexpectedly disconnecting mid-flight.

The pilots were left bewildered by an error in the air-speed readings and made the fatal error of tilting the plane's nose upwards instead of downwards when it stalled. The flight's relief first officer, co-pilot David Robert, 37, told him "controls to the left" before assuming control himself. However, with Bonin continuing to pull his side-stick back, their inputs negated each other, resulting in a stark "dual input" audible warning, reports Daily Star.

As alarms screeched through the cockpit, 58-year-old Captain Marc Dubois asked the pair: "Er what are you [doing]?" Robert responded grimly as he admitted: "We've lost all control of the aeroplane, we don't understand anything, we've tried everything." Robert can be heard saying to himself: "Climb, climb, climb, climb." Bonin replied: "But I've been at maximum nose-up for a while!" In a horrific moment, Dubois realised Bonin was causing the stall and yelled: "No no no, don't climb! No No No!" Bonin handed the controls to Robert, but it was too late.

The plane was too low to pull out of the stall. The black box revealed passengers were kept in the dark about the dire situation during the three-and-a-half-minute descent. In a desperate attempt, Bonin yanked his side-stick back and cursed, before yelling: "We're going to crash! This can't be true. But what's happening?" It's unclear who spoke next, but a voice was heard saying: "F***, we're dead." In 2023, Airbus and Air France were cleared of manslaughter charges related to the flight. The aftermath of the crash brought significant changes to the aviation industry, including new regulations for airspeed sensors and pilot training methods.