if the colgan pilots had let go of everything, the plane would have unstalled and hit the ground ''flying''. sure things would have been bad, but I'll bet that someone would have survived.
but they fought and kept it stalled right into the ground.
EVERY FREAKING PILOT should have to read: STICK AND RUDDER. the whole book constantly says IF YOU STALL PUSH THE STICK FORWARD (and remember in some spins your nose will already be DOWN).
unstall the wing and then recover to a climb, to level flight, to whatever you want...because once you are unstalled, you are flying.
I agree with the above post by RAT 5. It is one of the reasons I hate the underwing engine mounted jets. The engines can affect pitch.
On the DC9 and other tail mounted engine planes, you have a purer form of flying. they just push the plane along without major pitch change.