@ Denti. very interesting story, we are now getting into complex human factors,. I have seen such incidents with single pilots in high stress situations , which we call :" buried memory ", where your brain is overloaded and automaticallydoes things based on actions buried in your memories, as your brain can only function in sequences , not at the same time (despite many women believe they can ).
While the example descrbed by
pattern_is_full on an old Cessna is easily understandable, as the 2 levers, throttle and mixure are not only side by side but have the same push-rotate knob, and behave the same, just the color is different. Not the first time this error occurred and will not be not the last time .
But the feeling of taking 2 round shaped levers, (de) pressing 2 knobs to get into feather instead of delatching a single flap lever with its distinctive wing shape, is totally different and frankly I never heard of this before , on any type. And not picked up by the PF either? But there is always a first on everything I agree.
One point that migh be worth looking at here is fatigue and sleep deprivation as a posible contributing factor. We know they've done 3 previous legs that morning , but what they did the night before ( not necessarly work related) can be a factor Colgan and AF447 come to mind..
But the mystery continues until we get the final report in a year or two I guess.