Air France & Air Bus CEOs heckled as trial begins in Rio-Paris crash

The bosses of Airbus and Air France have been greeted with cries of "shame" at the opening of a long-awaited trial in Paris connected with a deadly 2009 plane crash off Brazil.

Relatives shouted protests as Air France Chief Executive Officer Anne Rigail and Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury expressed their condolences during opening statements.

The worst plane crash in Air France history killed 228 people of 33 nationalities, and families from around the world are among the plaintiffs in the case.

They have fought for more than a decade to see the case come to trial.

The investigation found multiple factors contributed to the crash of Flight 447. The trial is focusing on pilot error, and the icing over of external sensors called pitot tubes.

An Associated Press investigation at the time found that Airbus had known since at least 2002 about problems with the type of pitots used on the jet that crashed, but failed to replace them until after the crash.

Air France is accused of not having provided sufficient training to deal with problematic pitots.

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The companies say they are not criminally responsible. Air France has already compensated families of those killed.