On 1 June , inconsistent airspeed indications and miscommunication led to the pilots inadvertently stalling the Airbus A They failed to recover the plane from the stall, and the plane crashed into the mid- Atlantic Ocean at UTC , killing all passengers and crew on board.
The Brazilian Navy recovered the first major wreckage and two bodies from the sea within five days of the accident, but the investigation by France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety BEA was initially hampered because the aircraft's flight recorders were not recovered from the ocean floor until May , nearly two years after the accident.
The BEA's final report, released at a press conference on 5 July , concluded that the aircraft suffered temporary inconsistencies between the airspeed measurementsβlikely resulting from ice crystals obstructing the aircraft's pitot tubes βwhich caused the autopilot to disconnect. The crew reacted incorrectly to this, causing the aircraft to enter an aerodynamic stall which the pilots failed to correct.
It was delivered to the airline in April The aircraft underwent a major overhaul on 16 April , and at the time of the accident had accumulated about 18, flying hours. The aircraft was carrying passengers, 3 aircrew, and 9 cabin crew in two cabins of service. Of the 12 crew members including aircrew and cabin crew , 11 were French and 1 was Brazilian. The majority of passengers were French, Brazilian, or German citizens.
Air France established a crisis center [ 53 ] at Terminal 2D for the 60 to 70 relatives and friends who arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport to pick up arriving passengers, but many of the passengers on Flight were connecting to other destinations worldwide. In the days that followed, Air France contacted close to 2, people who were related to, or friends of, the victims. The Airbus A is designed to be flown by two pilots, but the hour "duty time" the total flight duration, as well as preflight preparation required for the Rio-Paris route exceeded the 10 hours permitted before a pilot had to take a break as dictated by Air France's procedures.
