Air France jet crashed nose-up after 4-min ordeal

The Airbus A330 jet climbed to 38,000 feet and then began a dramatic three and a half minute descent,rolling from left to right,with the youngest of three pilots handing control to the second most senior pilot one minute before the crash.

The timeline was described in a note by France’s BEA crash investigation authority,which said it was too early to give the causes of the crash ahead of a fuller report in the summer.

The captain returned after several attempts to call him back to the cockpit but was not at the controls in the final moments,according to information gleaned from black boxes.

By the time the 58-year-old returned,just over a minute into the emergency,the aircraft was plunging at 10,000 feet a minute with its nose pointing up 15 degrees and at too high an angle compared to the onrushing air to provide lift.