Last words uttered from doomed Air France flight 447 were co-pilot's 'F**k, we're dead'

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ANI Melbourne
Last Updated : Oct 14 2014 | 11:30 AM IST

New investigation has revealed that the last words heard from the cockpit of doomed flight 447 came from one of the two pilots who shouted "F**k, we're dead" as the plane plunged into the sea.

The two pilots were sleeping minutes before the Air France plane crashed into the sea in 2009, killing all 228 people on board.

The disclosure was made in the October edition of Vanity Fair magazine, shedding light on the troubled "piloting culture" within Air France.

Recorded conversations between 37-year-old David Robert, Pierre-Cedric Bonin, 32, and the 58-year-old captain, Marc Dubois, reveal that two of them were sleeping when the Airbus 330 experienced trouble in a tropical storm. The plane was flying from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, France, News.com.au reports.

The report said that Bonin, who had a flying experience of only a few hundred hours, was put in control of the flight by the pilots, as they decided to take a nap.

Apparently, the captain had slept for just one hour the previous night, as he was having a good time with his travel companion, an off-duty flight attendant and opera singer.

Chief investigator Alain Bouillard said that 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.

The investigation further revealed that the plane was suffering from a loss of lift and its airspeed sensors had malfunctioned. But instead of following procedures and lowering the plane's nose, the junior pilot raised it.

The captain entered the cockpit one minute and 38 seconds after the malfunction, but by then the damage had been done.

Right before the plane crashed, Robert was heard saying: "F**k, we're going to crash! It's not true! But what's happening?" Then, either Robert or Bonin said: "F**k, we're dead".

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First Published: Oct 14 2014 | 11:13 AM IST

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