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The pilot of an Air France Airbus 330 that plummeted into the ocean killing everyone onboard had three chilling final words before impact.
Flight 447 went down in 2009, claiming the lives of 228 passengers as it travelled from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
The fallout from the crash is still ongoing with Air France embroiled in a legal dispute, accused of being criminally responsible for manslaughter over the deaths, reports the Mirror.
READ MORE: First pics of two couples killed in horror plane crash after it plunged into sea
The behaviour of the pilots – Marc Dubois, 58, David Robert, 37, and Pierre-Cedric Bonin, 32 – and the culture aboard flights are where the contention lies.
During the follow-up investigation, it emerged that two of them fell asleep, one after the other, when they were supposed to be piloting the plane.
Recorded cockpit conversations also revealed the trio's terrifying final conversation.
Less than two minutes after a key piece of flight equipment failed, panic had begun setting in.
Robert could be heard saying: "F***, we're going to crash! It's not true! But what's happening?"
Either Robert or Bonin then adds: "F***, we're dead."
Then, four hours and 15 minutes into the cross-continental flight, it crashed into the Atlantic.
Bonin, who was referred to as a "Company Baby" due to his junior position, was made to pilot the difficult journey while his superiors caught a few winks.
The report read: "With most of the weather still lying ahead and an anxious junior pilot at the controls, Dubois decided it was time to get some sleep."
Alain Bouillard, who was heading up the investigation, was unflinching in his criticism of Dubois.
He said: "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 during the main event."
It was later revealed that Dubois' tiredness was likely related to him being up all night the night before with his lover – an off-duty hostess and opera singer. She also died on the doomed flight.
Dubois even admitted it, saying: "I didn't sleep enough last night. One hour – it's not enough."
The key details took two years to emerge as the flight's voice recorder laid at the bottom of the sea, as did the bodies.
Air France has maintained its innocence, and denies the pilots it hired were incompetent. However, it didn't take long for them to upgrade their pilot training.
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