the six passengers in the seats were killed when they fell into a field in st. pathus. the plane remained in the air another 70 seconds while the pilots tried to regain control, unsuccessfully. the aircraft's original pitch angle was negative 20 degrees, resulting in the aircraft accumulating a massive amount of airspeed during its quick descent. in the final 15 seconds, the aircraft's descent rate began to decrease as the nose raised as a result of the aircraft's high speed. captain ulusman pushed the throttles forward to to/ga in a last ditch effort to save the aircraft, calling out "speed, speed!" the aircraft hit the tree tops at about 434 knots (500 mph; 800 km/h) at a negative 4 degree pitch angle; the wings broke up, spilling and igniting fuel, exploding and killing the remaining 340 passenger and crew on board on board. the plane almost completely disintegrated leaving only 40 bodies intact.