Senior pilots were asleep until minutes before Air France crash disaster

Two senior pilots flying the doomed Air France plane which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, killing all on board including three Irish doctors, were asleep until moments before it hit a tropical storm.

The flight recorder on board Air France 447 shows the least experienced member of the pilot team was in charge while Captain Marc Dubois and co-pilot David Robert were asleep.

The plane crashed into the sea having taken off from Rio in Brazil en route to Paris on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 on board.