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Air France Flight 447: Final Words Of Stricken Pilot Revealed

'F**k, We're Dead': Final Words Of Air France Flight 447 Pilot Before Fatal Crash
Sara C Nelson
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The final, panicked words of one of the Air France pilots on board doomed Flight 447 have been revealed.

Junior pilot 32-year-old Pierre-Cedric Bonin was in the cockpit along with co-pilot David Robert, 37, when it became clear the aircraft was in trouble.

Captain Marc Dubois, 58, said to have been exhausted having spent the previous day sightseeing in Rio de Janeiro with his companion, an off-duty flight attendant and opera singer, was not in the cabin.

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Parts of the aircraft were recovered from the ocean floor

Details of the flight’s last moments before it plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009, killing all 228 people on board have emerged in new recorder information published in Vanity Fair magazine.

One of the pilots can be heard shouting “Fuck, we’re dead!” after the A330 hit heavy turbulence and slammed into the water off the coast of Brazil.

Moments earlier, Robert is heard to say: “Fuck, we’re going to crash! It’s not true! But what’s happening?”

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Chief investigator Alain Bouillard is quoted as saying: “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 behaviour, part of the piloting culture within Air France. 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 for the main event.”

It is thought Bonin – known as a “Company Baby” because he only had a few hundred hours of flying under his belt – was unable to correct a loss of lift nor the malfunctioning of the airspeed sensors.

Air France 447
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FILE - In this Monday, June 8, 2009 file photo released by Brazil's Air Force, Brazil's Navy sailors recover debris from the missing Air France Flight 447 in the Atlantic Ocean. A year after Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic ocean, families of some of the 228 victims are demanding Monday May 31, 2010 that the search for the flight recorders, and for answers, continues. (AP Photo/Brazil's Air Force, file) ** NO SALES ** (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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One of the two flight recorders of the Air France flight 447, which crashed in 2009, is displayed to reporters during a press conference at the French investigators' headquarters in Le Bourget, near Paris, Thursday, May 12, 2011. Two flight recorders that could unravel the cause of an Air France crash almost two years ago have arrived at French investigators' headquarters in a high security operation. The next step is to determine if the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder survived the crash and the ocean depths where they were discovered. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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Landing gear of the crashed aircraft AF 447 on April, 2011. After three unsuccessful searches, the fourth search, which began a few day agon north of the previous search areas more than 1000 kilometers off of the Brazilian coast and 4000 meters deep, brought unexpected results, when e diving robot Remus 6000 discovered the wreck on the Atlantic Ocean floor. The Airbus A330-200 from Rio to Paris disappeared on June 1rt 2009 under mysterious conditions into the ocean. Hand out photo by BEA/ABACAPRESS.COM (credit:ABACA/ABACA)
Bodies and wreck of crashed Air France aircraft discovered(04 of12)
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Engine of the crashed aircraft AF 447 on April, 2011. After three unsuccessful searches, the fourth search, which began a few day agon north of the previous search areas more than 1000 kilometers off of the Brazilian coast and 4000 meters deep, brought unexpected results, when e diving robot Remus 6000 discovered the wreck on the Atlantic Ocean floor. The Airbus A330-200 from Rio to Paris disappeared on June 1rt 2009 under mysterious conditions into the ocean. Hand out photo by BEA/ABACAPRESS.COM (credit:ABACA/ABACA)
Bodies and wreck of crashed Air France aircraft discovered(05 of12)
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Engine of the crashed aircraft AF 447 on April, 2011. After three unsuccessful searches, the fourth search, which began a few day agon north of the previous search areas more than 1000 kilometers off of the Brazilian coast and 4000 meters deep, brought unexpected results, when e diving robot Remus 6000 discovered the wreck on the Atlantic Ocean floor. The Airbus A330-200 from Rio to Paris disappeared on June 1rt 2009 under mysterious conditions into the ocean. Hand out photo by BEA/ABACAPRESS.COM (credit:ABACA/ABACA)
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FILE - In this Sunday, June 14, 2009 file photo workers unload debris, belonging to crashed Air France flight AF447, from the Brazilian Navy's Constitution Frigate in the port of Recife, northeast of Brazi. A new euro 10 million ($13.73 million) international search for the remains of Air France Flight 447 will begin in mid-March, nearly nine months after the passenger jet crashed in the Atlantic depths, France's chief air accident investigator said Wednesday Feb. 17 2010. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File) (credit:Eraldo Peres/AP)
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FILE - In this June 14, 2009 file photo, workers unload debris, belonging to crashed Air France flight AF447, from the Brazilian Navy's Constitution Frigate in the port of Recife, northeast of Brazil. French aviation investigators said Tuesday Dec. 22, 2009 they are optimistic about finding the black boxes of Air France Flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic last June en route from Rio to Paris, when a third phase of research begins in February. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File) (credit:Eraldo Peres/AP)
Brazil Plane(08 of12)
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Workers unload debris, belonging to crashed Air France flight 447, from the Brazilian Navy's Constitution Frigate in the port of Recife, northeast of Brazil, Sunday, June 14, 2009. A burst of last-minute automatic messages sent by Air France Flight 447 includes one about a problem with a rudder safety device but that does not explain what sent the jet plunging into the Atlantic Ocean, an aviation expert said. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
APTOPIX Brazil Plane(09 of12)
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Workers unload debris, belonging to crashed Air France flight 447, from the Brazilian Navy's Constitution Frigate in the port of Recife, northeast of Brazil, Sunday, June 14, 2009. A burst of last-minute automatic messages sent by Air France Flight 447 includes one about a problem with a rudder safety device but that does not explain what sent the jet plunging into the Atlantic Ocean, an aviation expert said. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Brazil Plane(10 of12)
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A technician of the French Bureau of Investigation, B.E.A, takes pictures of debris belonging to crashed Air France flight AF447, in the port of Recife, northeast of Brazil, Sunday, June 14, 2009. A burst of last-minute automatic messages sent by Air France Flight 447 includes one about a problem with a rudder safety device but that does not explain what sent the jet plunging into the Atlantic Ocean, an aviation expert said. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Brazil Plane(11 of12)
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Workers unload debris, belonging to crashed Air France flight AF447, from the Brazilian Navy's Constitution Frigate in the port of Recife, northeast of Brazil, Sunday, June 14, 2009. A burst of last-minute automatic messages sent by Air France Flight 447 includes one about a problem with a rudder safety device but that does not explain what sent the jet plunging into the Atlantic Ocean, an aviation expert said. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Brazil Plane(12 of12)
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Brazil's Air Force official Henry Munhoz, shows a photo taken early today with a piece of the Air France 447 flight being recovered from the Atlantic ocean, during a press conference in Recife, northeastern Brazil, Monday, June 8, 2009. Officals corrected to sixteen the total number of bodies plucked from the water about 45 miles (70 kilometers) from where the Air France jet sent out messages signaling electrical failures and loss of cabin pressure, Brazil's military said. (AP Photo/Roberto Candia) (credit:Roberto Candia/AP)

Dubois re-entered the cockpit one minute and 38 seconds after the emergency took hold but it was too late.

The final report by France’s aviation body BEA into the crash blamed the tragedy on human error and technical failure.

It claimed that crew were unable to apply correct procedures after the aircraft encountered turbulence a few hours into the journey.

This led to the jet plummeting into the ocean at more than 11,000ft per minute.

The BEA concluded the plane did not fall apart mid air and that the cabin never depressurised, meaning most of the passengers likely died on impact.

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