A lot of posts expressing surprise that they didn't realize they were in a stall. A lot of aircraft will stall and have no phugoid oscillations, so once you are in the stall there are really no "seat-of-the-pants" feelings of being in the stall. (You only have a falling sensation at the stall when you go from level flight to descending in the stall.) You have to be aware of AOA, airspeed, or reserve lift. Remember, this was at night in likely bumpy conditions so relying on the instruments was the only way out. You can bet that someone has already run a simulator with this accident scenario to see what a simple push would have accomplished.