Air France captain was absent when descent began

[May 27, 2011]  PARIS (AP) -- Officials say flight recorders from an Air France plane that crashed nearly two years ago show that the captain only arrived in the cockpit after the plane had begun its fateful 3 1/2-minute descent.

The initial findings of the French air accident investigation agency, the BEA, based on a reading of the so-called black boxes recovered from the ocean depths, found that the captain had been resting when the emergency began.

All 228 aboard the Rio de Janeiro to Paris flight were killed on June 1, 2009.

[Associated Press]

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