Please forgive what may well be a crass comment from a non-pilot who lacks the benefit of those hundreds of hours of professional training.
It would appear the crew were in "unusual attitude " situation.
Logic, to me, dictates that, if the aircraft was in the cruise prior to the upset, the trim and power were set for stable flight.
It would seem elementary, that no matter how much increased power was applied, continued back-pressure on the controls must result in either a loop (repeated until the stick is returned to the "balanced flight" position) OR the angle of climb would increase until the power available balanced gravity(+ lift) at which point the thing drops out of the sky ,tail down, presumably with reduced thrust available due to the abnormal airflow around and through the engines. (effectively a high-speed stall?)
It's easy to sit pontificating, but it seems they forgot the fundamental physics of flight and sat in a blind funk of panic.
No, I'm not a "simmer"
