Air France Flight 447: Final dying moments revealed

The ill-fated Air France flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic ocean on June 1, 2009, en route from Rio De Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people onboard, had plunged at nearly 11,000 feet per minute during the final few minutes even as its pilots struggled to regain control following failure of speed sensors, French authorities revealed, Friday.

The 2 black boxes or data recorders recovered from the crash site in early May have given the investigators an insight to the dying moments of flight 447.

France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) said, Friday, that the aircraft ran into severe thunderstorm and the engine stalled, prompting the pilots to respond by pulling the nose up.

The aircraft climbed to 38,000 ft when "the stall warning was triggered and the airplane stalled," the BEA report said.

The report said speed sensors also failed as speed displayed on the left primary flight display was "inconsistent" with those on the integrated standby instrument system (ISIS).

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The aircraft rolled in air before stalling. The stall warning system sounded thrice.

The two co-pilots and the captain attempted to pull up the aircraft but failed. Flight 447 began its rapid, nightmarish descent into the ocean at 10,912 feet per minute.

The pilots also lost contact with air traffic controller due to heavy turbulence.

After 3 minutes and 30 seconds, the aircraft crashed into the ocean, killing all 228 people onboard.

The black boxes also enabled the investigators to listen to the communications that went on inside the aircraft.

The investigators said that four hours and six minutes into the flight, one co-pilot, referred to as PF, told the cabin crew to expect heavy turbulence. "In two minutes we should enter an area where it'll move about a bit more than at the moment, you should watch out... I'll call you back as soon as we're out of it," the co-pilot said. Turbulence, brought on by icy, windy conditions, was typical in that flight route.

Four minutes later, the autopilot and auto-thrust disengaged and the co-pilot said "I have the controls." Around that time the stall warning sounded twice in a row.

The second co-pilot, referred to as PNF, said "So, we've lost the speeds." A second later, the stall warnings sounded again.

At about that time, the speed displayed on the left side "increased sharply." The aircraft was flying at an altitude of about 37,500 feet.