At about 2:11 and 6 seconds, the plane reached its maximum altitude (for the total weight that the aircraft had at the time) of 37,924 feet. The nose was pitched up to 18 degrees. The plane entered a stall and began to descend. Throughout the whole descent, the flight crew did not mention the word "stall", and multiple changes in control took place during the descent. As the aircraft descended below 8000 feet, Bonin finally admits to pulling the controls back and raising the nose when his colleague Robert shouts to "climb", with the words, "but I've had the stick all the way back for a while". The angle of attack remained above 35 degrees when valid. In the final seconds of the flight, all three pilots gave up on trying to solve the problem and desperately tried to get the aircraft to climb, and their final words were:
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