3 News > National > Story > Final moments of Air NZ crash revealed
The last words from the crew of the Air New Zealand Airbus crash have revealed their final moments of life.
Experts began listening to the cockpit voice recorder on Monday and today the head of the investigation in Perpignan, Jean-Pierre Dreno, revealed the details of what they heard.
During the last seconds of recording the pilots said they were having a lot of difficulty controlling the plane, followed by screaming.
The second black box that records the flight data has shown that as the A320 was landing at Perpignan there was a surge in engine power.
This caused the plane to climb sharply towards the sky. Dreno says the sudden incline would have been too steep for it to recover.
“First it go up, and then it fall on its side. It falled and then it entered the sea with many force.”
Investigators say they still need to analyse more data before they can determine the cause.
Next week they will collect more debris from the crash site – Air New Zealand wants all 300 pieces of the plane recovered.
‘I don’t want any part of this aircraft left on the sea bed for souvenir hunters or divers to take away,” says Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe.
He says it is out of respect to the men who died and that they and their families have been through enough.
Tomorrow representatives of the four men whose bodies were recovered will leave with them on a flight back home.
Air New Zealand has arranged for all of their friends, family and colleagues to meet them on the tarmac at Auckland airport Tuesday when they return.
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