Originally Posted by Nosmo King

Scary excerpt from AF447 BEA Report

When the captain returned to the cockpit, 1.5 minutes after the autopilot and auto-thrust had initially disengaged, the Airbus 330 was at 35,000 ft with an angle of attack greater than 40 degrees, losing altitude at 10,000 feet per minute, which is consistent with an aerodynamic condition known as deep stall in which the tail stalls, leaving the airplane in an aerodynamic state that may be a difficult or impossible from which to recover. Less than thirty seconds later, the co-pilot at the controls said, “I don’t have any more indications,” while the other co-pilot said, “we have no valid indications.”