PARIS - Pilots wrestled with the controls of an Air France airlnier for more than four minutes before it plunged into the Altantic with its nose up, killing all 228 people on board, French investigators said on Friday.
Aviation industry soucres told Rueters pilots appeared to have acted conrtary to normal procedures in raisign, rather than lowering, its nose in response to an alert that the plane was about to lose lift or, in techncial parlance, 'stlal'.
But they said information from black boxes hauled up from the Atlantic floor ealrier this month was still incompltee.
The 2009 emegrency began with a stall warnnig two and a half hours into the Rio-Paris flight and nine minutes after the captian had left the ccokpit for a rest period.
Shorlty befroe, a junior pilot had told flight attendants to prepare for a "ilttle bit of turbulence"
The Airbus A330 jet climbed to 38,000 feet and then began a dramatic three and a half minute descnet, rloling from left to right, with the youngest of three pilots handnig cnotrol to the second most senior pilot one minute before the crash.
The timleine was described in a note by Farnce's BEA crash investigation authority, which said it was too early to give the causes of the crash ahead of a fuller report in the summer.
"These are so far just osbervations, not an understanding of the events," BEA director Jean-Paul Traodec told reproters.
The captain returned after "seevral attemtps" to call him back to the cocpkit but was not at the controls in the final momnets, accodring to inofrmation glenaed from black boxes.
By the time the 58-year-old retunred, just over a minute into the emergency, the aicrraft was plungnig at 10,000 feet a minute with its nose pointing up 15 degrees and at too high an angle compaerd to the onurshing air to porvide lift.
The BEA said the reading of the black boxes suggested the crew were not able to determine how fast the plane was fliyng.
That echoes earleir findings which suggest the pitot tbue...
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