A/P ON
Gentlemen,
it is obviously difficult for most internet-age people to read beyond a few lines of text with any effectiveness. Please sweat a little with me.
Autopilot was turned back ON by 02:13 as attested by a late maintenance message where AutoFlight System (the Autopilot) detected a fault in FMGEC1.
A/P cannot be reengaged in the middle of an upset.
Which means no upset before that time 0213Z.
The UAS was apparently over by then, at least for the pilots, but perhaps not for the system. Remember the Airworthiness Directive regarding A/P reengagement after an UAS : "Unsafe Condition", "unwanted pitch commands"... It cannot be clearer than that, short of an outright confession.
And how caught up would anyone be, right after reengaging the A/P after a 3 minute nasty bout of night-time UAS live training in the ITCZ, if the aircraft suddenly went pitch-wild ?
Think More...