Cockpit voice recorder data from the 2 September 1998 Swissair Boeing MD-11 crash off Nova Scotia, reportedly show that the pilots were flying on battery run standby instruments from just over 6 min before impact with the sea. There is also evidence in the tapes, leaked to the Wall Street Journal, that the copilot was encouraging the captain to expedite the descent to the diversion airport, but the captain wanted to follow procedures.
Source: Flight International