Exactly fotoguzzi; the crew's reactions were those of laymen.
Rule 1 for a trained pilot is Fly the F#cking Aircraft, which they completely failed to do.
To quote from page 185 of the final report
"Current training practices do not fill the gap left by the non-existence of manual flying
at high altitude, or the lack of experience on conventional aeroplanes. Furthermore,
they limit the pilots’ abilities to acquire or maintain basic airmanship skills."