But surely it did not help when the Air France left seater, and the non flying main pilot that came to the cockpit, had no idea the confused relief pilot in the right (I believe) seat was pulling the whole time as they were falling like a leaf. A conventional linked yoke/stick would have provided instant tactile and visual clues. The other 2 non flying pilots would have seen he had the stick in his lap.
Yes crews need need to know their systems and modes, but things like sticks that do not move, throttle levers that don’t move, trim wheels that don’t move, etc just seem to take away clues.