On June1, 2009, an Air France Airbus A330-200 carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew members from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed and disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean leaving no trails behind.

The accident is regarded as one of the deadliest in the French aviation history and was the first fatal accident involving an Airbus A330 while in passenger service. Although a search and rescue operation was made on June 6th, it failed to recover the aircraft.

On April 3, 2011, the investigators finally had a tryst with success after they located parts of the wrecked jetliner in the ocean.

At a press conference on Monday, French officials stated that the findings are vital and that they are positive that they will be able to locate the missing recorders now.

Start the slideshow to get glimpse of one of the biggest aircraft recovery operations in the world: