confusion, leadership
Some people here critizise, that no leadership was taken by either PNF or CDB.
I would say CRM still worked because as we say: If you dont have any better idea, just keep quiet. PNF had some good ideas but he wasnt so sure because otherwise he would have insisted more or taken control of the aircraft (which he did from time to time, but without pressing the takeover P/B) So again, nobody really was in control because inputs add up or are neutralized.
Confusion was high but I am very sure CDB noticed the aircraft pitch attitude as he was walking into the cockpit because at that time (02:11:43) it varied between 10degrees up and even more and this is definitely different from what he experienced the other 100plus times when he entered the cockpit in normal flights. What he then saw when he entered the flight deck brought up the "c'est pas possible" because he (and nobody else of us) has never seen a combination of those readings before.
Old sentence but true:
In an emergency you will not rise to the occasion but fall back to your level of training. Were they trained for this situation?
@Neptunus Rex: ...inner ear pressure.
I would say if you are stressed like they were you dont feel anything
@takata: I have been trying to get info about VS indication on PFD(not data) and could not find any tests (AMM) were this system is checked. Maybe you have another source?