Air France crash due to 'pilots and faults'

 An Air France flight from Rio to Paris in 2009 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing 228 people because of both human and technical factors, a final report by French aviation authority BEA said on Thursday.

The report made 25 new safety recommendations on top of the 25 called for in a July 2011 report, blaming the Airbus A330’s ergonomics as well as inappropriate actions by the pilots who were under great stress. The recommendations  include better pilot training and improvements to plane warning systems.

The jet disappeared from radars while en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro. It took nearly two years for the flight recorders to be found.

The BEA said the disaster began with the malfunctioning of speed sensors known as Pitots during a period of turbulence.

The captain was taking a rest break and the co-pilots were in control at the time. The captain returned to the flight deck but was unable to reverse the catastrophic course of events.

One of the mistakes of the crew was to point the nose of the aircraft upwards after it stalled, instead of down.

“The crew was in a state of almost total loss of control of the situation,” BEA chief investigator Alain Bouillard told journalists on Thursday at the release of the final report.

Investigators have found fault with both Airbus and Air France, sparking a row between the two firms over their accountability for the crash.