Am I being simplistic in reaction to this incident? Seems a lot of heads down and button pressing.
Was the HP incapable of disconnecting the automatics and smoothly applying enough thrust, ( ie push the thrust leavers forward and raise the nose) while making a gentle climb and turn to the requested heading and altitude. The NHP meantime resets the automatics to reengage the autopilot when required.
There's almost no point stating the bleedin' obvious anymore. The only talk on this thread is about which way manipulating the automatics is
easiest to get the job done. It's a patch work where something essential is missing! Adding a bit of thrust and raising the nose a couple of degrees is such basic instrument flying I am sure an early IR student would sort it out better... as he wouldn't even know how the automatics work.