Radio Times

Review by:

Alison Graham

There is chaos in the cockpit of Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on 31 May 2009 (see right) as it flies into a tropical storm. The black box recorder yields the chilling words: “We’re going to crash. This can’t be true.” Exactly 1.4 seconds later contact is lost with the aircraft as it falls from the sky with the loss of all its passengers and crew.

It was a baffling accident — the Airbus 330 was one of the world’s most technologically advanced planes. Fatal Flight 447 sheds light on the crash and reveals the panic and fear of the captain and co-pilots as they faced a situation they were not equipped to handle.

About this programme

The story of what really happened on June 1, 2009, when Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 passengers and crew. It remained a mystery how one of the world's most technologically advanced planes could seemingly just drop out of the sky, until a two-year search finally located the black-box recorders. This documentary reveals the scene on board the doomed airliner as the pilots struggled to understand the catastrophe unfolding before them, and asks what lessons have been learnt from the disaster.

Cast and crew

Crew

Executive Producer

Louise Norman

Executive Producer

Morgan Matthews

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