Airlines, Air France Flight 447 Probe | featured news

Pilots wrestled with the controls of an Air France airliner for more than four minutes before it plunged into the Atlantic with its nose up, killing all 228 people on board, French investigators said on Friday.

With black boxes yet to be found from the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, investigators are struggling to draw conclusions from physical evidence and 24 automatic messages sent from the plane in the minutes before it disappeared.

There should be no assumed link between on-board speed sensors and the crash of Air France Flight 447 into the Atlantic Ocean last week, the airline's chief executive said Thursday.

Air France Flight 447 sent out 24 automated error messages -- including one saying the aircraft's autopilot had disengaged -- before it vanished with 228 people on board, aviation investigators said today.