No Lyman, the nose was on the way *back up* when the A/P disconnects. The PF may have *seen* the brief turbulence induced nose-low attitude and might have been trying to correct for it but there was no major updraft. The aircraft climbed because the PF's response was incorrect - in a perfect world he would have waited a few seconds to get a feel for what the aircraft was doing before trying to join in.
Hypothetically speaking - put yourself in the PF's position. You have not been trained in manual handling at altitude, most of the 2,000-odd hours on your flight log have been completely uneventful (and not to mention automated), you've been on holiday with your wife and you're now returning home with her in the passenger cabin. The Captain has nominated you as the relief pilot despite being the junior flight crew member on board - you're on top of the world. Suddenly you get an autopilot disconnect alarm followed by an alarming bump in which the ADI showed the nose dipping below the horizon for a second or two. What do you do?
We'd all like to think that we'd be calm and rational and behave as if this was any other flight - but all of a sudden one of your best days has turned into your worst nightmare.
Last edited by DozyWannabe; 27th Nov 2011 at 19:28.