Data from the recovered black boxes showed that the frozen pitot tubes led to autopilot failure. The pilots were forced to fly manually with incorrect speed and altitude readings.
Tragically, they pulled the plane’s nose up instead of down, causing an aerodynamic stall. “They mistakenly pointed the nose of the jet upwards instead of down,” the report revealed. The aircraft plummeted over 11,500 meters in just four minutes.
As the jet fell, cockpit audio captured the growing panic among the crew. “The pilots expressed confusion and horror at the unfolding events.”
In 2023, a French court cleared both Air France and Airbus of manslaughter charges. But the incident remains a sobering example of how technical failure and human error can combine in the worst possible way—highlighting the unpredictable dangers of flying through severe weather.
