Chilling pilot audio captures moment everything went wrong in plane crash which killed 265 people

Recordings from the cockpit captured the frantic final words of the pilots at the helm of American Airlines Flight 587.

The Airbus A300-600 was carrying 251 passengers and nine crew members when it fatefully crashed, killing all those onboard and another five on the ground.

The tragedy took place on 12 November, 2001, just weeks after the devastating 9/11 terror attack which decimated the World Trade Center and left thousands of people dead.

The packed plane departed from New York's JFK International Airport and was bound for the Las Americas International Airport in the Dominican Republic, but never made it to its destination.

Shortly after takeoff, chaos began to unfold in the cockpit and the American Airlines flight smashed into the Queens neighbourhood of Belle Harbour before bursting into flames.

Flames erupted in the Belle Harbour neighbourhood after the plane crashed (NYPD/Getty Images)

Captain Edward States, 42, was piloting the aircraft alongside First Officer Sten Molin, 34, on that fateful day.

An audio recording from the cockpit previously circulated online, which chronicled the conversation that unfolded between the pair as they realised that something had gone wrong.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board later determined that the in-flight separation of the vertical stabiliser - part of a plane's tail that provides control and stability - was to blame for the crash.

Then, the 'subsequent loss of control' sealed the fates of the 265 people who died in the tragedy, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The probe also found that the separation of the vertical stabiliser, which is what set of the devastating chain of events, was caused by 'the first officer's unnecessary and excessive rudder pedal inputs in response to an encounter with wake turbulence from a preceding aircraft'.

In the audio recordings, Molin can be heard asking the captain if he is 'alright', to which States replies: "Yeah, I'm fine."

The first officer - which is a term used in the aviation industry to describe a co-pilot - then twice urges his colleague to 'hang onto it'.

The captain then asks for 'full power' and moments later, the vertical stabiliser breaks.

265 people died in the tragedy (Shaul Schwarz/Getty Images)

States can then be heard shouting: "What the hell were you do... I'm stuck in it!"

Molin is then heard saying: "Get out of it, get out it!"

Silence then ensues, as by this point it was too late for the pilots to do anything - and Flight 587 careered into the residential area.

In November last year, relatives of the victims gathered to remember those who lost their lives on the 24th anniversary of the aviation disaster.

Former New York City mayor Eric Adams told those in attendance: "This impact has continually brought about the level of pain, but when we host this event each year, it gives us an opportunity to reflect on our loved ones, to remember not only lives that they lost, but the lives that they live.

"During times like this, we lean on our faith and we lean on each other. It's so difficult to imagine back then, when we were weeks away from 9/11, the terrible collapse of our twin towers down at Ground Zero.

"Just weeks later, we saw this horrific crash of Flight 587."