On this day: 2009 - Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew are killed.

Air France Flight 447 was a flight intended to go from Rio de Janeiro to Paris but crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 2009, killing all 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board the flight.

The investigation into the flight is ongoing but a recent discovery on May 27 2011 revealed that the plane came to a stall before plummeting to the ocean.

The aircraft’s black boxes were only recovered off the ocean floor 2 years later. The accident was the deadliest ever in Air France’s history and has been described as the worst accident ever in French aviation history.

It was the first deadly accident to occur whilst flying an Airbus A330.